Did The Voters Of Delaware, Richland & Allen Counties Send Jim Jordan To DC To Dismantle The Constitution?
With crackpots like Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, Tom Tiffany, Chip Roy, Troy Nehls, Harriet Hageman, Russell Fry, Glenn Grothman and Brandon Gill on the House Judiciary Committee, there’s no doubt that if congressional Republicans get serious about intimidating judges, impeachment charges will wind up on the floor of the House. A rubber stamp GOP majority in the House may even be able to impeach a few judges, although with a 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate, the threat of convicting any of them is mathematically hollow since 67 votes (two thirds) are required, a virtually impossible hurdle, even if Fetterman votes, as he often does, with the Republicans.
Carle Hulse noted that it is the authoritarian Musk and other neo-fascists in Trump’s circle who are egging on congressional Republicans. Even though it’s a losing proposition, the “escalating calls to remove federal judges who stand in the way of administration efforts to overhaul the government… is threatening yet another assault on the constitutional guardrails that constrain the executive branch.”
Hulse noted that “even the suggestion represents another extraordinary attempt by Republicans to breach the foundational separation of powers barrier as Trump allies seek to exert iron-fisted control over the full apparatus of government. And Democrats charge that it is designed to intimidate federal judges from issuing rulings that may go against Trump’s wishes. ‘The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges,’ Musk wrote this week on Twitter… in one of multiple posts demanding that uncooperative federal judges be ousted from their lifetime seats on the bench. ‘We must impeach to save democracy,’ Musk said in another entry on Twitter after a series of rulings slowed the Trump administration’s moves to halt congressionally approved spending and conduct mass firings of federal workers. He pointed to a purge of judges by the right-wing government in El Salvador as part of the successful effort to assert control over the government there.”
The push comes as arch-conservative House Republicans have filed articles of impeachment against federal judges whom they portrayed as impediments to Trump, accusing them of acting corruptly in thwarting the administration.
“If these partisan judges want to be politicians, they should resign and run for office,” said Representative Eli Crane, Republican of Arizona, in filing articles of impeachment against Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The judge, who was placed on the bench by President Barack Obama in 2011, had temporarily barred those working for Musk’s government review team from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records.
…Given the slim chance of successful impeachments for rulings rather than criminal misconduct, Democrats say the impeachment drumbeat is an obvious effort to cow judges and discourage them from making what Trump would consider adverse rulings. They say it follows a longstanding pattern of Trump and his allies attacking judges when the courts don’t go their way.
“It’s clear they’re trying to create an environment of intimidation to the judiciary to try to make certain that they don’t rule against President Trump and his policies,” said Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
“It is all about raw politics,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a senior member of the panel. “It may seem absurd and hypothetical to us here, but to judges, it is extremely threatening. It is plainly a device to bully and intimidate judges to think twice about issuing orders.”
Political pressure on federal judges has reached a level that Chief Justice John Roberts noted it in his year-end report issued in January. He scolded those who would try to browbeat the judiciary, saying that “attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
The American College of Trial Lawyers has pushed back on the impeachment calls by Musk and others, saying in a statement that “threats of impeachment for such judicial acts have no constitutional grounding and are patently inconsistent with the rule of law upon which our nation was founded.”
Criticism of the judges has spread beyond Musk and hardright elements of the House and has been picked up by Senate Republicans and other officials. Trump, who has a long record of excoriating judges, warned last month that his administration would have to “look at” judges as they stepped in to block the Musk effort. Vice President JD Vance has also sharply questioned the reach of judicial authority.
…With rulings much of the time going against the Trump administration in its aggressive campaign to reshape the government and with Musk and others trying to rally opinion against judges handing down the decisions, it is unlikely that calls for impeachment will die down.
Only 15 federal judges have ever been impeached, and only 8 removed. The impeachments were primarily for corruption, tax evasion or criminal behavior. None were removed for their rulings. Musk’s invocation of El Salvador is chilling— Bukele’s fascist-oriented government did purge the judiciary, helping him consolidate power. Trump’s long-standing disdain for judicial independence suggests it’s only a matter of time before he ignores unfavorable rulings, setting up a potential constitutional crisis, rather than just political theater, another step toward the authoritarian rule Musk seems to think he bought buy underwriting Trump’s election.
Musk was able to invest roughly $275B in Trump's campaign because the SCOTUS, in Citizens United and other dubious decisions, gutted campaign finance laws on the specious grounds that campaign spending= speech. Without judicial review, Musk would never have been able to buy access & power of this magnitude. Musk now decrees that impeaching judges who engaged in judicial review of DOGE's clear violations of separation of powers is necessary to "preserve democracy."
Judicial review is great when it benefits Musk, but it's worthy of impeachment when it hurts him. Of all of the ongoing hypocrises and double standards, that's among the worst--and the most dangerous.