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Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached?

By TChris, Section Judiciary
Posted on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:03:30 AM EST
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by TChris

More ominous words from Tom DeLay as he continues his effort to distract the nation from his ethical lapses. Preaching to the conservative choir at a conference entitled “Confronting the Judicial War on Faith,” DeLay announced (via videotape) that "Judicial independence does not equal judicial supremacy," adding:

"I believe the judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people."

Substitute “the right-wing agenda” for “the legitimate will of the people” to make the statement slightly more accurate. Of course, the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause requires courts to honor the Constitution when it is “the will of the people” to disregard it, a foundational principle of our country that DeLay and his ilk choose to ignore.

DeLay’s arrogant desire to substitute right-wing ideology for constitutional protections was impressively matched by Senator Tom Coburn’s chief of staff, Michael Schwartz, who called for “mass impeachment” of judges. Opposing that idea is the extremely liberal Chief Justice.

In a recent report, Chief Justice Rehnquist called one such measure "unwarranted and ill-considered" and said "a judge's judicial acts may not serve as a basis for impeachment."

Will DeLay and Coburn start impeachment proceedings against the Chief Justice for daring to oppose their scheme to establish Congressional supremacy over the courts?

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    Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:16:56 AM EST
    I disagree with all the right-wing nutballs involved, each of which is serving the institutional interest of the body they are in rather than the public interest. The congressional reactionaries are, of course, insane in calling for mass impeachment. The C.J. is wrong, however, to state that judicial acts may not serve as the basis of impeachment; there is no more critical role for the broad impeachment power that touches all federal officers than addressing abuses of public office for which there is no -- or inadequate -- regular remedy at law. Gross abuse of judicial power is a valid basis for impeachment -- it constitutes nothing short of usurping powers of government from those charged under the Constitution with exercising them, and there can be no effective remedy for such offense without impeachment. But it is a a power that should be reserved for the most clear and gross abuses.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:27:46 AM EST
    The President appoints judges. The Senate approves them. The office of the President and Senators are elected positions. How is it judges don't represent the people via the proxy of the President and the senators? Laws are written and passed by Congress. Even if the President vetoes a law, Congress has the ability to override the veto. Judges apply the laws that are therefore passed by the elected Congress. How is it judges don't represent the laws of the land passed by the people's representatives? Tom DeLay and the Republicans control the Presidency, the Senate and the House. If they don't like laws they can change them. Judges will then rule in accordance with those laws. There are rare cases of judges not enforcing the law. But it seems the rightwing argument against activist judges is completely off the mark and serves only to undermine the judiciary and thus the rule of law in this country.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:42:54 AM EST
    Substitute "congress" for Judiciary branch.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:45:32 AM EST
    The congressional reactionaries are, of course, insane in calling for mass impeachment
    Unless, of course, it was their own...in which case they would demonstrate their sanity... fake fantasy website: www.voteoutcongress.com

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:56:07 AM EST
    Adjectives, like beauty, are in the eyes of the beholders; one person's 'activist' (in this case, the connotation is obviously negative) is another's 'progressive'. Or devil. From a strict Constitutional point of view, for a case of judicial 'activism', one need only look at the 2000 Federal Supreme Court ruling in favor of Mr. Bush when the case should have been remanded back to the Florida Supremes to handle. If any 'litmus tests' are needed, it's to whether those seeking judicial appointments understand the the reason behind strict seperation of powers; all else flows from that.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:29:37 AM EST
    What memo said, but the good idea would be to impeach Bush and his family, and maybe put Fox in some prison in china, With Bin Laden and saddam.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Adept Havelock on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:59:41 AM EST
    And Delay continues to throw temper tantrums about the Seperation of Powers, enshrined in the Constitution. Why does Tom Delay hate the Founding Fathers?

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#9)
    by nolo on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:00:07 PM EST
    Impeachment? I say bring it on. Get a beer, and a lawnchair, and let's watch the entire legislative process go into a complete standstill while these whackjobs argue about impeaching judges who've done nothing but follow decades-old precedent. Let's see members of the House o' Wingnuts put huge "vote me out of office for being a crazy person" targets on their backs by trying to start the process. Nothing else will get done in the meantime, but at least maybe it'll keep these nutjobs from doing any real damage between now and the next election.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#10)
    by txpublicdefender on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:42:54 PM EST
    The C.J. is wrong, however, to state that judicial acts may not serve as the basis of impeachment; there is no more critical role for the broad impeachment power that touches all federal officers than addressing abuses of public office for which there is no -- or inadequate -- regular remedy at law. Gross abuse of judicial power is a valid basis for impeachment -- it constitutes nothing short of usurping powers of government from those charged under the Constitution with exercising them, and there can be no effective remedy for such offense without impeachment. But it is a a power that should be reserved for the most clear and gross abuses.
    That's what appellate courts are there for. If a judge grossly abuses his power, the appellate court will overturn it. The only judges this won't work for are the 9 Supremes, and even then, it would take a majority of them all deciding to grossly abuse their power at once for it to actually affect the result. As the C.J. has rightly pointed out, when you threaten judges with impeachment based on no other conduct than their judicial rulings, you take away their impartiality. What judge would dare to invalidate, on constitutional grounds, a law passed unanimously by Congress, if he or she knew that Congress could impeach him for that ruling? Some courageous ones, who value their oath of office and duty to the Consitution having a nice federal judgeship, would. And then they would be impeached. And the irony would be that the judges who had the courage to uphold their judicial oaths--the very ones we NEED in the judiciary--would be the ones who lose their jobs.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:57:25 PM EST
    Hey kids, they're in the process of making it so w/the Constitution Restoration Act. Here's the House version (the Sen. has their own to ensure safe passage from liberal terrorist judges): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3799: I have read that 28 Sen. sponsered this piece of unconstitutional excretment. Its looking to go down the Schiavo bill route.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 01:21:25 PM EST
    You don't get it!! Delay and his fellow henchmen want to impeach the judges that don't give the decisions that they want! Tom Delay is either stupid or grandstanding when he makes outrageous comments like he does. Is he literate? Because EVERY poll done lately shows that Americans overwhelmingly think Congress and Bush acted inappropriately. Wake up Delay!! Your support is dwindling day by day!!

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 01:32:32 PM EST
    Lay people are funny. One person says “impeach” and they are start screaming like it matters.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 01:34:38 PM EST
    I wonder what part of "Seperate but EQUAL" does Delay and his cronies not understand?

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:04:28 PM EST
    DeLay out will not restore my faith in our elected officials. DeLay in Jail will. And thanks to the troll who posted "DeLay/Rice '08" The visual of Tom on all fours and Condi in her German-troop-review-Secretary-of State/Dominatrix outfit wielding a little whip (no pun intended)has been one of the highlights of my week! :)

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#16)
    by nolo on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:11:19 PM EST
    Concerned, it looks like neither the senate nor the house versions of that ridiculous bill have made it out of committee. Really crazy stuff, though.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#17)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:25:53 PM EST
    Shorter Delay: "Damn that rule of law!" You're next buddy.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#18)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:32:33 PM EST
    Remember this man used our own security forces to track down his opponents in the Texas legislature.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 03:34:18 PM EST
    Che and the TX dems won't forget that, still hammering on it (as it should be), trying to get a criminal investigation, absolutely abused power and broke TX election laws. get a fork; delay is done, just slow roasting.

    Re: Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 09, 2005 at 11:11:50 AM EST
    Tom DeLay vs. Tom Jefferson. DeLay thinks he has it on Jefferson.

    Should Every Federal Judge Be Impeached? | 19 comments (19 topical)