Massie files Hegseth impeachment articles, forcing a House vote by Wednesday as the lame-duck session opens in chaos

Rep. Thomas Massie walked onto the House floor Monday afternoon and did what he had promised for weeks: he filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, setting off a constitutional clock that gives GOP leadership no more than two legislative days to bring the matter to a vote. That means the full House could decide Hegseth's fate as early as Wednesday, in what would be one of the most consequential acts of a lame-duck session that opened with Republicans still reeling from their midterm collapse.

The filing landed on the same afternoon the Supreme Court, in a separate unsigned opinion, lifted a federal court injunction that had blocked border wall construction across more than 500 miles of West Texas, including Big Bend National Park. Two branches of the federal government, moving in opposite directions on two of the administration's core vulnerabilities, all before sundown on the first day Congress returned to session.

What Massie actually charged

Massie introduced a 34-page resolution accusing Hegseth of waging war against Iran without congressional authorization and abusing the powers of his office. The resolution carries eight articles of impeachment. Among the most pointed: Massie charged that Hegseth "abused the powers of his high office" by "directing, authorizing, and sustaining hostile United States military actions in Iran after the expiration of the 60-day period." The 60-day limit refers to the War Powers Resolution, which requires the president to seek congressional approval for sustained military operations.

Massie said Hegseth is waging war in Iran despite "no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat," calling the military campaign an unconstitutional violation of Congress's power to declare war. The articles go further. Massie's charges also include alleged "extrajudicial killings," referring to strikes on suspected drug boats, and what the resolution calls the "kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader."

Massie introduced the updated articles on the House floor Monday, restarting a two-day clock for GOP leaders to schedule a vote under a 34-page resolution. He needs a simple majority, meaning just three Republicans voting with all Democrats would be enough to pass the articles.

Hegseth was unbowed. "We're not worried about that," he told a reporter when asked about Republican support for the effort led by the outgoing Massie.

The vote math, and why it's uncertain

Massie told Roll Call he gives the effort "better than a 50 percent chance of passing." He is leaving Congress after this session, having lost his GOP primary to a Trump-backed rival. That departure gives him nothing to lose politically. The same cannot be said for the Republicans he's trying to peel away.

House Republican leadership has not laid out how they plan to handle the resolution, and it is unclear whether they have the votes to dispose of Massie's measure following the election. Speaker Mike Johnson said last week that the work ahead of the lame-duck session is "nowhere close to being finished yet," but his office has stayed conspicuously quiet on the Hegseth question.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the expected next speaker, said Sunday he would support the Hegseth impeachment. Jeffries told ABC News he would be a "hard yes" and said the defense secretary "has abused his" office. With Democrats almost certainly voting as a bloc, Massie's allies only need three Republican defectors to prevail.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer declined to back the impeachment effort but acknowledged "there's a lot of questions about" Hegseth, including the defense secretary's strategy in Iran. That is not exactly a ringing endorsement of the man the administration needs Republicans to protect.

If the articles pass, Massie framed it plainly: "The question is whether he committed impeachable acts. And the answer is yes, eight times." Hegseth would become the third Cabinet secretary in history to be impeached.

The broader lame-duck minefield

Congress returned Monday for a five-week lame-duck session, with a long to-do list to tackle before the end of the year and dozens of lawmakers ending their tenure in the House, plus at least 17 senators heading home. The Hegseth impeachment is only the loudest item on a list that includes keeping the government funded past December 11.

Republicans are returning to work facing the prospect of an especially difficult session after a bruising midterm. Democrats have little incentive to help Republicans advance their agenda before January, while departing GOP lawmakers could complicate matters by skipping votes or defying party leaders.

Dozens of House lawmakers and at least 17 senators are leaving Congress, raising questions about attendance, cooperation, and how much work departing members actually want to do. At least one academic observer put it bluntly. "You have a lot of members of Congress who just lost reelection, and they're probably upset, embittered that they lost," said David Miller, assistant professor of government at American University.

House Republicans also face a leadership election on Tuesday. The race for House minority leader is a rematch between sitting Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio. The vote will be conducted by secret ballot Tuesday afternoon, and both sides described the contest as tight going in. Scalise has positioned himself as an experienced hand who can unite the party, while Jordan is campaigning on a more aggressive approach to confronting the incoming Democratic majority.

Based on current AP results, Democrats have won 254 seats and lead in enough uncalled races to expand to 261, while Republicans could ultimately hold as few as 174 seats, setting Democrats up for the largest majority for any party since 1991.

The Supreme Court's Big Bend ruling

While Congress convened in Washington, the Supreme Court handed the administration a victory on another front. In an unsigned decision, the high court agreed to lift a district court's injunction that temporarily stopped construction of the wall and related infrastructure in the Big Bend sector, which covers more than 500 miles of the southern border and includes Big Bend National Park.

In its five-page decision, the Supreme Court said the lower court's order delays border barrier and road construction and "impedes the Government from advancing its 'compelling interests' in border security and integrity." Congress, the court wrote, had enacted the relevant law in a way that "reflects a clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert."

In a five-page unsigned ruling, the court said the federal judge who issued the injunction had no authority to do so. Of the nine justices, only liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

The ruling suspends the district court's injunction while the lawsuit proceeds. That lawsuit challenges the federal government's waiver of dozens of laws to fast-track construction through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and across the broader region.

A federal judge in Texas had found that the Department of Homeland Security was probably acting illegally by trying to skirt environmental and other laws. Construction can now proceed while the legal fight continues.

Not everyone on the Texas side of the aisle was pleased. Sen. John Cornyn voiced his opposition to border wall construction through Big Bend in an op-ed published Monday in the San Antonio Express-News. The Big Bend sector covers 517 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, more than a quarter of the border's total length, but the region saw just 1.3 percent of total border apprehensions in 2025.

Opponents were sharper still. Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the ruling "clears the way for contractors to bulldoze pristine desert and dynamite canyon walls before the courts have even decided whether this destruction is legal."

What to Watch

• The Hegseth vote: House rules require a vote on Massie's privileged resolution by Wednesday. Watch whether Johnson attempts a procedural move to table or refer the articles, which would itself require a majority, and count how many Republicans break from the party line.
• House minority leader election: House Republican leadership elections are scheduled for Tuesday, with the secret-ballot vote to be held Tuesday afternoon. A Jordan win would signal the conference is betting on confrontation; a Scalise victory would reflect a preference for stability heading into the minority.
• Government funding deadline: Republicans, who will lose their majority in January, hope to pass a short-term funding bill by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown. The Hegseth fight could eat into floor time and goodwill needed to get there.
• Big Bend litigation: The Supreme Court's order is not a final ruling on the merits. The underlying case challenging the administration's environmental law waivers continues in the lower courts, and a ruling on the waiver's legality could reach the justices as early as next term.
• Senate permitting vote: The Senate is seeking to advance a bipartisan deal on permitting reform this week. A Monday procedural vote will show whether that bipartisan energy survived the election or whether Democrats prefer to hold the issue for when they hold the gavel in January.

Sources: ABC News | CBS News | NBC News | CNN | Bloomberg Law | Roll Call | Axios | The Washington Post | Punchbowl News | Center for Biological Diversity