Impeaching John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1354 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1354

   Impeaching John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States 
 District Court for the District of Rhode Island, for high crimes and 
                             misdemeanors.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2026

 Mr. Steube submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
   Impeaching John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States 
 District Court for the District of Rhode Island, for high crimes and 
                             misdemeanors.

    Resolved, That John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United 
States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, is impeached 
for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following article of 
impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:
      Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people 
of the United States of America, against John McConnell, Jr., Chief 
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode 
Island, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for 
high crimes and misdemeanors.

   article i: abuse of judicial discretion, dereliction of duty, and 
                     endangerment of public safety

    John McConnell, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States District 
Court for the District of Rhode Island, has engaged in conduct 
incompatible with the trust and confidence placed in him as a judicial 
officer, as follows:
            (1) On June 5, 2026, in Dorcas International Institute of 
        Rhode Island et al., v. United States Citizenship and 
        Immigration Services et al., Judge McConnell, Jr. issued an 
        order vacating a policy framework (Challenged Policies) adopted 
        by U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which 
        paused all asylum applications and pending immigration benefit 
        requests, required a substantive review of already approved 
        immigration benefit requests, and ordered USCIS to treat 
        country-specific factors in discretionary immigration benefit 
        decisions. These policies were designed to ensure that persons 
        from high-risk countries who entered the United States on or 
        after January 20, 2021, do not present threats to national 
        security or public safety. In his decision to vacate the 
        Challenged Policies framework, Judge McConnell, Jr. disregarded 
        the incidents that necessitated the USCIS Challenged Policies 
        framework. This includes the June 2025 guilty plea of an Afghan 
        national, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, for conspiring and attempting to 
        provide material support and resources to ISIS for a planned 
        terrorist attack in the United States on the day of the general 
        election for President and Vice-President in November of 2024, 
        as well as the November 2025 terrorist attack against two 
        National Guard members in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national 
        named Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
            (2) In his ruling, Judge McConnell, Jr. dismissed the 
        executive branch's national-security justification as 
        pretextual, and such actions are forbidden from influencing the 
        decision-making process of USCIS. Judge McConnell, Jr.'s ruling 
        placed the interests of noncitizens seeking immigration 
        benefits above the national security of the United States and 
        interferes with the executive branch's ability to adequately, 
        properly, and fully mitigate any and all national security 
        risks associated with the entrance of persons originating from 
        certain countries lacking sufficient vetting protocols and 
        accountability safeguards. By mandating that USCIS resume the 
        processing of immigration benefits and dismissing national 
        security justifications for a pause in processing, it is 
        evident that Judge McConnell, Jr., has committed an egregious 
        dereliction of duty by permitting his own political hostility 
        towards the executive branch's immigration policies to override 
        the neutral application of law.
            (3) In taking this action, Judge McConnell, Jr. 
        marginalized core public safety and national security 
        considerations and thereby contributed to an environment of 
        impunity for terrorism, the endangerment of public safety, and 
        eroding of the national security of the United States. This 
        pattern is inconsistent with the duty of impartial fidelity to 
        law and to the safety of the people, and it undermines respect 
        for the rule of law at a time of elevated public concern about 
        terrorism and national security.
    
    Accordingly, Judge McConnell Jr. has engaged in conduct so utterly 
lacking in judicious restraint and basic fidelity to public safety and 
national security that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, is 
unfit to hold the office of Chief Judge, and should be removed from 
office.
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