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