Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HR270 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	IV
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. RES. 270
5	5	Removing James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge of the United States District
6	6	Court for the District of Columbia, for failure to remain in good behavior
7	7	pursuant to section 1 of article III of the Constitution.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH31, 2025
10	10	Mr. B
11	11	IGGSof Arizona (for himself, Mr. CLYDE, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana,
12	12	Mr. N
13	13	EHLS, Mrs. LUNA, and Mr. CRANE) submitted the following resolu-
14	14	tion; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
15	15	RESOLUTION
16	16	Removing James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge of the United
17	17	States District Court for the District of Columbia, for
18	18	failure to remain in good behavior pursuant to section
19	19	1 of article III of the Constitution.
20	20	Resolved, That James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge of 1
21	21	the United States District Court for the District of Colum-2
22	22	bia, is removed for failing to maintain the standard of 3
23	23	good behavior required of judges under section 1 of article 4
24	24	III of the Constitution, and that the following article of 5
25	25	removal be exhibited to the United States Senate. 6
26	26	Article of removal exhibited by the House of Rep-7
27	27	resentatives of the United States of America in the name 8
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30	30	•HRES 270 IH
31	31	of itself and of the people of the United States of America, 1
32	32	against James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge, United States 2
33	33	District Court for the District of Columbia, in mainte-3
34	34	nance and support of its removal of him for failing to re-4
35	35	main in good behavior. 5
36	36	ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER 6
37	37	7
38	38	Chief Judge Boasberg, in violation of his oath of of-8
39	39	fice, did knowingly and willfully use his judicial position 9
40	40	to knowingly interfere with the President’s constitutional 10
41	41	prerogatives and enforcement of the rule of law for polit-11
42	42	ical gain. 12
43	43	The Constitution grants Congress the authority to 13
44	44	create, eliminate, and regulate all Federal courts inferior 14
45	45	to the Supreme Court. Section 1 of article III of the Con-15
46	46	stitution provides that ‘‘[t]he Judges, both of the supreme 16
47	47	and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good 17
48	48	Behavior,’’ thereby granting Congress the authority to re-18
49	49	move a judge who fails to remain in good behavior while 19
50	50	in office. 20
51	51	The Constitution grants the President broad and ex-21
52	52	pansive powers over the conduct of foreign policy and to 22
53	53	ensure national security against foreign threats. The Su-23
54	54	preme Court has ruled that the power to conduct foreign 24
55	55	affairs is a political power which is largely beyond the 25
56	56	scope of judicial inquiry or decision. As such, outside ques-26
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59	59	•HRES 270 IH
60	60	tions of the constitutionality of a provision or action, the 1
61	61	Constitution places foreign policy decisions by the Presi-2
62	62	dent and Congress beyond the scope of review by the 3
63	63	courts along with actions taken pursuant to those deci-4
64	64	sions. 5
65	65	In 1798, Congress passed the Alien Enemies Act (50 6
66	66	U.S.C. 21–24), which authorizes the President to make 7
67	67	a public proclamation designating members of a foreign 8
68	68	nation or government liable for apprehension and removal 9
69	69	as alien enemies of the United States. The Act gives the 10
70	70	President sole authority to determine the manner of the 11
71	71	enemy aliens’ restraint and removal as well as to establish 12
72	72	any regulations which are necessary to ensure public safe-13
73	73	ty. 14
74	74	On March 15, 2025, President Donald J. Trump 15
75	75	issued a proclamation declaring that all Venezuelan citi-16
76	76	zens who are members of the organization known as Tren 17
77	77	de Aragua are liable to be apprehended and removed 18
78	78	under the Alien Enemies Act due to the threat the organi-19
79	79	zation poses to the United States and its clear entangle-20
80	80	ment with the government of Venezuela. Furthermore, due 21
81	81	to the severity of Tren de Aragua’s crimes against the 22
82	82	United States, the President declared that members of 23
83	83	Tren de Aragua are ineligible for the benefits of section 24
84	84	22 of the Act and are therefore liable to immediate appre-25
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87	87	•HRES 270 IH
88	88	hension and removal. Pursuant to this declaration, the 1
89	89	President directed the Attorney General and the Secretary 2
90	90	of Homeland Security to immediately take steps necessary 3
91	91	to begin the apprehension and removal of members of 4
92	92	Tren de Aragua who are present within the United States. 5
93	93	Despite the broad authority given by the Constitution 6
94	94	to the President when conducting matters of foreign af-7
95	95	fairs and national security, and the clear authority given 8
96	96	to the President under the Alien Enemies Act, James E. 9
97	97	Boasberg knowingly interfered with the President’s execu-10
98	98	tion of foreign policy by ordering the return of members 11
99	99	of a designated foreign terrorist organization to the 12
100	100	United States. To justify his action, Boasberg cited ques-13
101	101	tions concerning the interpretation of certain words and 14
102	102	phrases which are intimately tied to the President’s for-15
103	103	eign policy powers and therefore beyond the scope of re-16
104	104	view of the courts. In doing so, James E. Boasberg know-17
105	105	ingly extended beyond the bounds of power of his office 18
106	106	and unjustly interfered in the execution of foreign policy 19
107	107	and national security for partisan purposes of halting the 20
108	108	implementation of the President’s foreign policy and for 21
109	109	political gain. Furthermore, James E. Boasberg has failed 22
110	110	to disclose payments received from non-federal sources 23
111	111	and abused his discretion during his term on the Foreign 24
112	112	Intelligence Surveillance Court. 25
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115	115	•HRES 270 IH
116	116	Accordingly, under the good behavior clause of sec-1
117	117	tion 1 of article III, these actions of James E. Boasberg 2
118	118	constitute misbehavior and render him liable for removal 3
119	119	from office. 4
120	120	Wherefore, James E. Boasberg, by his conduct has 5
121	121	failed to remain in good behavior should be removed from 6
122	122	office and no longer be considered a judge of the United 7
123	123	States. 8
124	124	Æ
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