Trump has "declared war on the rule of law," says retired conservative judge J. Michael Luttig

President Donald Trump and his allies' calls to impeach certain federal judges is causing a constitutional crisis, warned former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, who said on MSNBC Tuesday that the administration has effectively "declared war on the rule of law in America."

In the past several weeks, Trump loyalists have demanded the impeachment of various judges who have blocking or stalling administration policies they deemed unlawful. The president himself, furious that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered his administration to halt deportations of accused gang members to El Salvador, joined them on Tuesday, posting on Truth Social that he ought to be impeached. "HE DIDN'T WIN ANYTHING!" he wrote. "I'm just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do."

"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" he continued, calling Boasberg "a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."

Shortly after Trump's post, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, wrote on X that he had introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg. In his post, Gill that by issuing a temporary restraining order against the administration over its use of the 1798 wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act, Boasberg had committed an impeachable offense.

The White House's saber-rattling against the American judiciary, a body conceived to hold government officials and elected politicians in check, prompted a rare rebuke from Supreme Court chief justice John G. Roberts.

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," Roberts said in a statement.

The U.S. Senate has considered the impeachments of 15 judges in all of American history. Of those, eight were found guilty, and all for gross misconduct in office, such as taking bribes, not for any individual legal decision they made. Trump calling for a judge's impeachment on the latter grounds, Luttig said, underscores the fact that Trump sees the federal judiciary is "just one more federal government institution that has been weaponized by 'partisan actors' ... he believes that he was elected to rid the nation of them." 

"When the President of the United States wages a war on the rule of law and the federal judiciary, America is in a constitutional crisis," he continued. "The constitutional role of the president is to faithfully execute the laws. Needless to say the president is doing anything but that in the moment."