Impeaching John Edwin Steele, Senior District Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1431 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1431

  Impeaching John Edwin Steele, Senior District Judge for the United 
  States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, for high 
                        crimes and misdemeanors.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2026

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Impeaching John Edwin Steele, Senior District Judge for the United 
  States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, for high 
                        crimes and misdemeanors.

    Resolved, That John Edwin Steele, Senior District Judge for the 
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, is 
impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and 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 Edwin Steele, Senior 
District Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle 
District of Florida, 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 Edwin Steele, Senior District Judge for the United States 
District Court for the Middle District of Florida, has engaged in 
conduct incompatible with the trust and confidence placed in him as a 
judicial officer, as follows:
    On July 8, 2026, in Miakel Guerra Morales v. Field Office Director, 
Miami, et al., Judge John E. Steele granted a petition for a writ of 
habeas corpus and ordered the release of Miakel Guerra Morales from a 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility. 
Guerra Morales is a Cuban national who took part in the hijacking of a 
commuter aircraft in Cuba in 2003 and forced the pilot to land in Key 
West, Florida. He was sentenced to 264 months in prison for aircraft 
piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew.
    After spending 21 years in prison, ICE placed Guerra Morales in 
removal proceedings, accompanied by an immigration judge's order for 
him to be removed from the United States. Notwithstanding the deferral 
of his removal to Cuba due to a claim made in 2023 pursuant to the 
Convention Against Torture, ICE detained Guerra Morales on December 30, 
2025, with the intention of removing him to Mexico instead.
    In Judge Steele's subsequent order releasing Guerra Morales from 
detention, he ignored the executive branch's suggestion that granting 
Guerra Morales' habeas petition would not respect the presumptively 
reasonable detention period typically afforded to such petitions, which 
typically requires habeas petitions to be filed after 180 days of 
detention. In his reasoning for accepting the petition, Judge Steele 
suggested that the executive branch's request for Guerra Morales to 
refile the same petition after 180 days would ``add to the crushing 
amount of case management'' associated with petitions filed during the 
previous 6-month period. Judge Steele let an alleged backlog of 
casework serve as a reason to release an alien convicted of aircraft 
piracy into American communities.
    In his order, Judge Steele disregarded a justification for 
continued detention for illegal aliens posing a special danger to the 
public. Specifically, Judge Steele failed to adequately consider that 
continued detention was in compliance with Federal regulations 
authorizing such detention for aliens determined to pose a special 
danger to the public. Judge Steele's order relied in part on an 
apparent delay in removal proceedings as a justification necessitating 
the release of Guerra Morales from detention. Moreover, by ordering the 
release of Guerra Morales from an ICE detention facility within 24 
hours, Judge Steele denied the executive branch an opportunity to 
pursue appellate review and allocate sufficient resources to ensure the 
safety of the public from such a dangerous individual.
    In taking this action, Judge Steele marginalized core public 
safety, homeland security, and national security considerations, and 
thereby contributed to an environment of impunity for illegal aliens 
convicted of grave and violent offenses against the United States. His 
ruling placed the interests of criminal illegal aliens seeking 
residence in the United States by any means necessary above the 
security of the United States and the American people. By releasing an 
illegal alien convicted of aircraft piracy from an ICE detention 
facility, it is evident that Judge Steele committed an egregious 
dereliction of duty by abusing the discretion entrusted to him as a 
Federal judge, especially at a time of elevated public concern about 
national security and terrorism.
    Accordingly, Judge Steele 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 United States District Judge, and should be removed 
from office.
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