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By Sophie Clark
Live News Reporter
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The judge who said that President Donald Trump's administration had ignored his court order to restart the flow of federal funds, has had articles of impeachment drafted against him.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. told the White House that it must abide by the preliminary injunction to halt its funding freeze.
Representative Andrew Clyne, a Republican, has announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he is drafting articles of impeachment, accusing the judge of being a "partisan activist."
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The Public Information Officer for the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island told Newsweek that Judge McConnell "does not speak to the press during the pendency of a case."
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Newsweek has contacted Clyne via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Clyne said McConnell should be impeached because he is a "partisan activist." Federal judges, who are appointed for life, can only be impeached if they are accused of "treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors."
If McConnell is successfully impeached and then convicted by the Senate, it will set a precedent that blocking the president's actions in court is akin to treason.
What To Know
In January, 23 Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) sued the Trump administration over its federal funding freeze.
Although the White House has said it is going to appeal the ruling, which went in favor of the state AGs who said that the freeze was unconstitutional, it does have to obey it by returning federal funding to its pre-Trump levels.
McConnell, who was the presiding judge in the original funding case, found that the administration had not been complying with his order on Monday, despite the president saying that he would comply with court orders.
The judge did not say the government was in contempt of court, nor did he issue a fine, the BBC reported.
The language used by Clyne reflects an X post by Elon Musk—who heads up Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—which read: "There needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments, not just one."
Musk made the post a little under two hours before Clyne shared the news on X about him issuing articles of impeachment against McConnell. The Tesla CEO reposted it, saying: "Yes."
What People Are Saying
Representative Andrew Clyne: "I'm drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. He's a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending. We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned."
What Happens Next
The articles of impeachment will be brought to the House. If passed by a simple majority then the judge will have to go before the Senate, where two-thirds of its members will be needed to pass a conviction against him.
Only 15 federal judges have ever been impeached and eight of those have been convicted by the Senate.
The last judge to be convicted by the Senate was Judge Thomas Porteous in 2010, who was unanimously convicted under corruption charges for having a financial relationship with a law firm that was involved in a case which he did not recuse himself from.
Update 2/13/25, 12:00 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a response from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
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