Speaker Johnson warns Congress can 'eliminate' district courts as battle rages over Trump's agenda

House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that Congress has authority over federal courts, and could get rid of district courts as the White House wars with “activist judges” blocking President Trump’s agenda. 

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference that normally, a judge’s decision can be overturned through the appeals process. But he countered that there is a “dangerous trend” in which Democrat-appointed judges are violating the separation of powers among the three branches of government. 

The speaker said the House would consider California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill, the No Rogue Rulings Act, designed to limit overreach from judges impeding Mr. Trump’s agenda, and argued that the House has constitutional authority to do so. A vote could come next week.

“We do have authority over the federal courts. As you know, we can eliminate an entire district court,” Mr. Johnson said. “We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”

Mr. Issa’s bill seeks to narrow a single district court judge’s authority to use nationwide injunctions that impact the country outside of their districts, instead limiting the scope of an injunction to apply to only the parties involved in the case. 

The bill would also require that If a case is brought by multiple states, a three-judge panel with judges selected at random will be created to review the suit. 

Mr. Johnson’s sentiments come as several district court judges across the country have issued injunctions to halt some of Mr. Trump’s executive actions, which have drawn calls from the president and a group of House Republicans to impeach them. 

However, that could prove a difficult move to accomplish in the House, given the razor-thin majority Mr. Johnson commands, and the two-thirds majority required in the Senate to remove a judge from office. 

The hunger to impeach has largely been focused on U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg. He tried to stop deportation flights of Venezuelans whom the administration says are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. 

Judge Boasberg is targeting the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. On Monday, he ruled that Venezuelans who are declared wartime enemies under the law are entitled to individual judicial review, and the government must prove they are members of Tren de Aragua before they can be deported.

The speaker deferred the issue to the House Judiciary Committee and noted that the panel, led by House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, will hold a hearing on the broader question of judges overstepping their authority and making decisions that appeared politically targeted against the president.

When asked if judges would appear before the Judiciary committee, Mr. Jordan said “we’re working on that, we’re working on who’s going to come.”

• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.