Our nation is a complex web of checks and balances, designed to keep the ship of state running, if not always smoothly, at least in a somewhat orderly fashion.
This system, involving lawmakers, courts and, ultimately, elections, is built for accountability. And if we follow the rules that have long been laid down, there are remedies for even the most egregious affronts to the Constitution and our form of representative government.
In its overturning of Roe v. Wade, abandoning precedent and centuries of civil rights advances, the Supreme Court has upended the normal order of things. And they broke the rules to get there.
“If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue — without basis, if you read these opinions — rulings that deeply undermine the human civil rights of the majority of Americans, we must see that through,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning.
“There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and the hostile takeover of our democratic institutions,” she added.
She’s talking about impeachment, specifically of justices Bret Kavanagh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, all appointees of President Donald Trump, who during their Senate confirmation hearings indicated they would respect the precedent set by Roe.
Which means they lied to Congress. And that, friends, is a crime. It’s what Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was convicted of in 2018. He did three years in federal prison for it.
Fully one-third of the Supreme Court committed this crime on live TV — although they did not technically become criminals until they cast their votes to end 50 years of federal protections for child-bearing people.
Surely everyone agrees that we can’t have criminals on the Supreme Court, yes?
There’s a mechanism for this. So far, 14 federal judges have been impeached since we started this thing in 1776, just one from the Supreme Court: Justice Samuel Chase, a George Washington appointee who was impeached by the House in 1804 for ruling cases in a partisan manner. He was later acquitted by the Senate, but still. Another one, Justice Abe Fortas, stepped down under the threat of impeachment in 1969, after accusations of financial impropriety.
This case has elements of both — Kavanagh’s finances are shady AF. And though we’ve never had to remove three at once before, there is no other remedy.
AOC called the current state of SCOTUS a “crisis of legitimacy” in her bid to unseat these corrupt and criminal adjudicators. And we are here for it.
Join the First Amendment Society, a membership that goes directly to funding TCB‘s newsroom.
We believe that reporting can save the world.
The TCB First Amendment Society recognizes the vital role of a free, unfettered press with a bundling of local experiences designed to build community, and unique engagements with our newsroom that will help you understand, and shape, local journalism’s critical role in uplifting the people in our cities.
All revenue goes directly into the newsroom as reporters’ salaries and freelance commissions.
Who writes this crap. They’ve obviously never heard of the separation of powers. No. You cannot impeach justices because of a decision they made. Even If you think they lied to you during their confirmation hearings.
Yes we can.