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GOP calls to impeach judge for forcing Trump admin to restore health webpages
February 26 2025, 08:15

A Republican lawmaker has filed a resolution to impeach a U.S. district judge for ruling against President Donald Trump.

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) filed the resolution against Judge John Bates after he ordered the government to restore health websites that were removed due to Trump’s directive to eliminate “gender ideology extremism” from the federal government.

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Donald Trump defies court order by adding transphobic text to restored webpages
Several government webpages that mention gender now contain transphobic text calling trans people a threat to women and children.

Bates – a George W. Bush appointee – ordered the restoration of the websites in response to a lawsuit from the medical advocacy group Doctors for America, which said the disappearance of the sites infringed on their work fighting disease.

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Ogles claimed Bates “has engaged in conduct so utterly lacking in intellectual honesty and basic integrity that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors” because some of the websites he ordered back online contained information on gender-affirming care.

The impeachment resolution claimed the “continued socialization of this grave moral evil necessitates immediate action against those who would promote it.”

The deleted websites included data on HIV and risky behaviors associated with the virus as well as a page about youth behavioral health risks, according to Reuters. One doctor from a clinic for low-income people said in a court filing that it has already affected her work, as she could not access CDC resources she’d normally use to fight a chlamydia outbreak at a Chicago high school.

“It bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants’ actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare,” Bates wrote.

After the ruling, Elon Musk called Bates “evil” and said he “must be fired.”

The likelihood of Bates actually losing his job is small, but Republican calls to punish judges who go against the Trump agenda are increasing.

Trump’s Justice Department recently accused lesbian federal Judge Ana Reyes of misconduct for her alleged bias while questioning of a DOJ lawyer on Trump’s anti-transgender military ban last week. Reyes had called the order’s assertion that trans pronoun use undermines troop effectiveness “frankly ridiculous” and evidence of Trump’s “unadulterated animus” against trans individuals.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer also faced an impeachment resolution for issuing a temporary block on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency accessing the U.S. Treasure Department systems.

In the resolution, Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) claimed Engelmayer showed “clear bias and prejudice against the president” and “abused his judicial office by using his authority to further personal or political interests.”

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