Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday called for judges to be impeached for checking the power of the Trump administration, as some of its efforts to overhaul the government get bogged down in legal fights.
“There needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments, not just one,” Musk said on X, responding to claim of a conflict of interest for U.S. District Judge John Bates, who ordered federal health agencies Tuesday to restore online datasets taken down.
Neither Musk or the other X user he responded to gave evidence into the claim.
Bates order followed Trump’s executive order prohibiting the government from promoting “gender ideology.” The judge agreed to issue the temporary order in favor of Doctors for America (DFA), a left-leaning physicians advocacy group that sued by claiming the scrubbing violated federal law.
Musk has also called for another federal judge to be impeached after they issued a ruling that temporarily halted his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to Treasury Department data.
Trump has said he will abide by court orders that block parts of his agenda, but on Wednesday morning questioned recent rulings halting his administration’s work.
“DOGE has found massive amounts of FRAUD, WASTE, INCOMPETENCE, AND ABUSE, but even knowing this, a highly political, activist Judge wants us to immediately make payment, anyway. In other words pay, even though you know the payment was fraudulently requested to be made. DOGE caught them – The Judge just doesn’t care. It doesn’t make sense!!!” the president said on Truth Social.
The day before, Trump had Musk in the Oval Office with him, in a striking moment to defend his ally amid concerns about the legality of DOGE’s actions and about the tech titan’s personal conflicts of interest, given his companies’ vast government contracts.
Musk and Vice President Vance have both in recent days suggested judges don’t have jurisdiction to stop the president from exercising his authority, leading Democrats and some legal experts to sound the alarm over a looming constitutional crisis.
