The
Federalist
Society’s
annual
lawyers
meeting
is
going
on
in
Washington
D.C.,
and
yesterday
there
was
a
panel
on
Judicial
Oversight
of
District
Courts
after
Trump
v.
CASA,
limiting
lower
courts’
ability
to
issue
universal
injunctions
to
block
the
enforcement
of
policies.
Though
conservatives
won
that
case,
and
have
a
wildly
partisan
win
rate
at
the
Supreme
Court,
panelist
Chad
Mizelle,
former
chief
of
staff
to
the
Attorney
General,
still
finds
plenty
to
complain
about.
Mizelle’s
comments
called
out
district
courts
that
have
tried
to
place
constitutional
speed
bumps
on
the
Trump
agenda.
Like
his
former
boss,
Mizelle
says
these
are
liberal
judges
that
aren’t
acting
in
good
faith
(never
mind
that
Reagan-appointed
judges
are
leading
the
charge).
And
he
knows
what
we
should
do
about
it.
Impeach
them.
Politico
reports
on
Mizelle’s
comments:
“What’s
going
to
force
the
Supreme
Court to
do
something
is
fundamentally
political
pressure.
It’s
going
to
be
when
Congress
starts
impeaching
judges
and
saying
…
‘You
are
now
encroaching
into
our
territory,’”
Mizelle
said
during a
panel
discussion at
the
Federalist
Society’s
annual
lawyers’
meeting
in
Washington.Mizelle’s
impeachment
battle
cry followed
a
somewhat
cryptic
story
he
shared
that
appeared
to
involve
an
implicit
threat
his
father
once
issued
to
put
down
a
stray
cat
in
the
family’s
yard.“What
do
I
think
DJT
should
do? He
should
stand
up,
and
he’s
already
done
this,
and
say,
‘Judges,
I
know
how
to
deal
with
stray
cats,’”
said
Mizelle,
who
served
as
acting
associate
AG
and
chief
of
staff
to
AG Pam
Bondi before
stepping
down
last
month.
(Mizelle’s
wife, Kathryn
Kimball
Mizelle, is
a
Trump-appointed
federal
district
court
judge
in
Florida.)
Of
course,
there
are
problems
with
this
strategy.
Put
aside
the
massive
hit
this
would
cause
to
the
rule
of
law,
but
as
a
matter
of
logistics,
this
is
nothing
more
than
an
empty
threat.
Remember,
it’s
not
that
easy
to
kick
someone
out
of
their
lifetime
appointment.
In
order
to
actually
remove
a
federal
judge
from
the
bench,
you
need
60
senators
to
vote
to
convict
the
jurist
—
and
refusing
to
rubber
stamp
a
far-right
policy
agenda
isn’t
going
to
have
the
votes.
(Hell,
even
before
you
get
to
the
Senate’s
trial
part
of
an
impeachment,
Mike
Johnson
would
have
to
call
the
House
of
Representatives
back
from
recess,
and
who
knows
when
that
will
be.)
Yet
it’s
important
to
note
that
the
impeachment
option
is
so
freely
bandied
about.
We
now
live
in
a
world
of
political
retribution,
and
this
is
merely
another
way
conservatives
are
trying
to
apply
pressure
to
eliminate
the
opposition
to
their
agenda.
Even
if
the
opposition
is
rooted
in
constitutional
concerns.
Mizelle’s
words
are
chilling,
and
they
don’t
exist
in
a
vacuum.
There’s
a
sharp
increase
in
threats
against
federal
judges
— up
327% in
the
Trump
II
era.
Though
Mizelle
means
treating
judges
who
dare
to
question
the
far-right
agenda
like
“stray
cats”
is
impeachment,
it’s
easy
to
see
how
an
extremist
might
take
the
words
more
literally.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].