Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, will formally introduce articles of impeachment against federal district court Judge John James McConnell Jr.
Last month the Rhode Island-based judge ordered the administration of President Donald Trump to unfreeze federal funding grants on which the president had placed a temporary hold so that spending could be reviewed for fraud and waste.
Democrat attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit challenging the move from Trump, Fox News reported.
The Obama-appointed McConnell directed the administration to “immediately restore frozen funding.”
He later ruled that the administration was not fully in compliance with his temporary restraining order and threatened criminal contempt judgments to officials who did not comply, Politico reported.
“The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” McConnell decided. “These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the TRO.”
In his articles of impeachment, which Clyde shared with Fox News, the lawmaker said that McConnell “knowingly politicized and weaponized his judicial position to advance his own political views and beliefs.”
