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.
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.