Summary
House Speaker Mike Johnson asserted that Congress has the authority to eliminate entire district courts, control funding, and oversee the judiciary.
He described such actions as necessary in “desperate times” due to judges blocking Trump’s policies through nationwide injunctions.
Johnson announced plans for a House Judiciary Committee hearing to address “abuses” and advanced legislation to limit judges’ power to issue such injunctions.
He later clarified his remarks were not a threat but emphasized congressional control.
I mean, he’s technically correct: the constitution gives congress the power “to constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court.” The only court the US technically has to have is SCOTUS, although it’s hard to imagine them hearing every single federal case.
Interestingly, Congress does not have the power to fire or reduce any judge’s salary, except by impeachment.
They absolutely do not have the power to rearrange how the Judicial works. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIII-S1-8-1/ALDE_00013557/
They were given the power to CREATE new tribunals, not the power to adjust, remove, or otherwise define how they work, which would be a direct violation of the separation of powers. They are given the ability to create courts and fund them purely as a bureaucratic role, and ABOLISH them, but not otherwise redefine how they are determined to work in AIII. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIII-S1-8-5/ALDE_00013561/
Your articles seem to say that congress has periodically rearranged and eliminated “Article III courts,” recently avoiding the Constitutional crisis of not paying judges of the eliminated courts by posting them elsewhere. But I’m no lawyer, so maybe I’m misinterpreting “In 1891, Congress enacted legislation creating new intermediate appellate courts and eliminating the then-existing federal circuit courts.” and “In 1982, Congress enacted legislation abolishing the Article III Court of Claims and U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals”
Yes, so they can move them around, but they can’t say “Hey, this court is gone now because they’re causing the Executive problems”. They can’t redefine the balance of how they are supposed to work. The judges are guaranteed positions as well, so they can’t fire them either.