The war over judicial accountability reached its boiling point Wednesday.
Ted Cruz brought the hammer down on two judges Democrats thought were untouchable.
And Ted Cruz just made one demand that has two federal judges in full panic mode.
Cruz Takes Impeachment Fight Directly To Mike Johnson
Senator Ted Cruz formally demanded Speaker Mike Johnson launch impeachment proceedings against two federal judges during a Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The Texas Republican sent a letter to Johnson urging the House to advance articles of impeachment already filed against Chief Judge James Boasberg and Judge Deborah Boardman.
"Both of these judges, I believe, meet the standard for impeachment and for conviction and removal from office," Cruz declared during the hearing.
Cruz chairs the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that held the hearing titled "Impeachment: Holding Rogue Judges Accountable."
Articles of impeachment already exist in the House against both judges filed by Representatives Brandon Gill and Chip Roy.
But the impeachment articles have stalled without any House votes scheduled.
Cruz's letter and hearing amount to a full-court press to force Johnson's hand.
"Both cases reveal a judiciary that has explicitly ignored its constitutional duties," Cruz wrote to Johnson. "I urge the House to take up its constitutional duty and advance the impeachment resolutions introduced by Representatives Gill and Roy."
Cruz closed the hearing with a prediction that sent Democrats into overdrive.
"I'm going to make a prediction," Cruz stated. "I believe the House will impeach both Judge Boasberg and Judge Boardman, and I believe those impeachments will come to the Senate."
Russell Dye, spokesman for House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, said "everything is on the table" when asked about impeachment.
Boasberg Signed Gag Orders To Keep Republican Senators In The Dark About Jack Smith's Spying
Judge Boasberg became a lightning rod for conservatives after special counsel Jack Smith used his courtroom to secretly subpoena Republican senators' phone records.
Smith subpoenaed phone records for at least 10 Republican senators and one House member as part of his January 6 investigation into Trump.
The records covered a four-day period surrounding the Capitol riot and included call detail records showing who contacted whom and when.
But here's what made Republicans furious.
Boasberg signed gag orders preventing phone companies from notifying the senators for an entire year that their records had been seized.
The targeted senators included Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, and others.
Cruz argued Boasberg should have demanded to know who the subpoenas targeted before signing off.
"One must ask on what basis Judge Boasberg found that the disclosure of subpoenas would result in destruction of or tampering with evidence," law professor Rob Luther testified at Wednesday's hearing. "Did Judge Boasberg merely rubber stamp the requested gag order, or was he willfully blind?"
Court officials claimed Boasberg wasn't told the subpoenas targeted senators.
Cruz wasn't buying it.
"It has become public that Judge Boasberg claims he did not know who he was authorizing those subpoenas directed to," Cruz said. "That doesn't make it better. It makes it worse."
The senators had constitutional protections under the Speech and Debate Clause that should have allowed them to challenge the subpoenas.
Those protections became meaningless because the gag orders kept the senators from even knowing about the subpoenas until it was too late.
Cruz argued Boasberg either knew he was targeting senators and approved it anyway, or signed the gag orders without bothering to ask who they targeted.
Either way, Cruz said, the judge's conduct warranted removal.
"Judge Boasberg used the authority of his office to authorize and to conceal the targeting of members of Congress," Cruz wrote on X. "No republic can survive if its judges help opposition officials surveil the people's elected representatives."
Boardman Slashed Justice Kavanaugh's Would-Be Assassin's Sentence By 22 Years
Judge Deborah Boardman drew Cruz's fire for sentencing Brett Kavanaugh's attempted assassin to just eight years in prison.
Sophie Roske pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate the Supreme Court Justice at his Maryland home in 2022.
The Justice Department sought 30 years to life in prison.
Federal sentencing guidelines recommended the same.
Boardman sentenced Roske to 97 months instead.
That's more than two decades below what prosecutors requested.
Cruz argued Boardman let her ideology override her judicial duty.
The judge cited Roske's transgender identity as a mitigating factor during sentencing.
Boardman expressed concern about Roske being housed in a male prison facility.
"Judge Boardman reduced a potential thirty-year sentence to a mere eight years, citing as mitigating the defendant's self-declared status as a 'transgender woman' and expressing concern that 'she' would be housed in a male facility," Cruz wrote to Johnson.
Roske flew from California to Maryland armed with a pistol, knife, zip ties, and burglary tools.
The wannabe assassin walked up to Kavanaugh's home after 1 a.m. but spotted U.S. Marshals outside.
Roske then walked away and called 911 to turn himself in.
Boardman credited Roske with "abandoning" the assassination attempt.
But prosecutors noted Roske only stopped after seeing law enforcement already positioned at Kavanaugh's home.
"The defendant's explicit objective was to single-handedly alter the Constitutional order for ideological ends," prosecutors argued in their sentencing memo.
Roske targeted Kavanaugh over the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
Cruz accused Boardman of sending a dangerous message to anyone considering political violence against judges.
"What are the consequences of a judge concluding that attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice warrants a slap on the wrist?" Cruz asked conservative attorney Will Chamberlain during the hearing.
"Potentially devastating to the republic," Chamberlain responded.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Justice Department would appeal Boardman's sentence as "woefully insufficient."
Cruz went further and argued the judge herself should be removed.
"My Democrat colleagues on this committee do not get to give great speeches about how opposed they are to violence against the judiciary, and, at the same time, cheer on a judge saying, 'Well, if you attempt to murder a Supreme Court Justice, and you happen to be transgender, not a problem,'" Cruz stated.
The impeachment push sets up a major confrontation between Trump's Justice Department and federal judges appointed by Democrats.
Democrats accused Republicans of weaponizing impeachment to intimidate judges.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse argued the hearing was "a scheme to amplify pressure and threats against a sitting federal judge."
Chief Justice John Roberts previously warned that "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
But Cruz argued these cases go beyond simple disagreements with rulings.
"Rarer still, until now, were the deeper offenses the framers feared most — judges who, without necessarily breaking a criminal statute, violate the public trust, subvert the constitutional order or wield their office in ways that injure society itself," Cruz declared.
Republican Senator Eric Schmitt called Boasberg "the embodiment of a rogue judge."
Impeachment requires a majority House vote followed by two-thirds Senate approval to remove a judge.
Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, meaning they'd need 14 Democrats to vote for conviction.
That's highly unlikely given Democrats' defense of both judges at Wednesday's hearing.
But Cruz's impeachment push sends an unmistakable message to federal judges blocking Trump's agenda.
The days of judges rubber-stamping Democrat lawfare operations against conservatives are over.
Sources:
- Ashley Oliver, "Cruz demands impeachment of Boasberg and judge who sentenced Kavanaugh's attempted assassin," Fox News, January 7, 2026.
- Benjamin S. Weiss, "Senate Judiciary clashes over judicial impeachments, rising threats against judges," Courthouse News Service, January 7, 2026.
- M.D. Kittle, "Cruz Demands Speaker Johnson Impeach 'Rogue Judges'," The Federalist, January 7, 2026.
- Brooke Singman, "Major phone carriers reveal Jack Smith's subpoenas for Republican senators' records," Fox News, October 31, 2025.
- "California resident sentenced to over 8 years in Kavanaugh assassination attempt," ABC News, October 4, 2025.
- "Office of Public Affairs: Nicholas Roske Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Prison," Department of Justice, October 6, 2025.