Skip to main content

Judicial Impeachment


  1. How much of the House must agree to impeach a judge? How much of the Senate must agree to remove a judge?
    A majority of the house (at least 1/2) is needed to approve an indictment to impeach, and a and a 2/3 supermajority of the Senate must convict the judge for him or her to be removed.
  2. Has this process ever been used before for the Supreme Court?  How many times?
    This process has been used for the Supreme Court before. Only one Supreme Court justice, Samuel Chase, has ever been impeached, and the motion to impeach him was part of a motion by Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans to remove a political enemy, though ultimately he was acquitted.
  3. Where in the Constitution does it set up the impeachment process?
    Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution allows the President, Vice President, and any civil officers to be impeached for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
  4. What are the reasons for the impeachments of the 5 most recent judicial impeachments?
    Four of the five justices were impeached after being convicted of certain crimes. For Harry Claiborne, the crime was falsifying income tax returns. Alcee Hastings was first impeached after a for receiving a 150k bribe from the mob to reduce prison sentences for their members. However, he was acquitted in a criminal court and became a judge again. After a second investigation, which convited Hastings of perjury and obstruction of justice, he was impeached again. For Walter Nixon, the crime was perjury. For Samuel Kent, it was obstruction of justice and sexual abuse of female employees. G. Thomas Porteous was the only one impeached without a crime, but the Department of Justice discovered he had accepted bribes and failed to recuse himself cases involving those who bribed him.
  5. Why does the current makeup of the Senate make it unlikely that Supreme Court justices Kavanaugh or Thomas would be removed if impeached today?
    The Senate is controlled by Republicans, some of whom enthusiastically support Kavanaugh, and it is unlikely enough would shift to support Kavanaugh's impeachment. 
  6. Why is it hard to tell which offenses are "impeachable offenses" for a justice?
    There is no definition in the Constitution for a "high crime or misdemeanor." Precedent shows that it is not necessarily an action which disgraces an office. Thus, ultimately Congress decides the definition of "impeachable offense".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Purge the Scourge

1.  What was Lt Colonol Alexander Vindman's job in the bureaucracy? He was a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. 2. What did Vindman testify during the impeachment investigation? He testified that, while listening in on Trump's call with Zelensky, he found the call inappropriate and that Trump should not have asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, a political opponent of Trump. 3. What did the White House do to Vindman and his brother? Vindman was removed from his post and detailed to the Defense Department; his brother was reassigned. 4. How is the White House justifying this action? The White House claimed this was just part of a larger shrinking of the National Security Counsel staff. 5. Why does the author argue that this creates a danger for other civil servants? Other officials are even more scared to testify against the president should he act inappropriately again. 6. What was Gordon Sondland's job in the Trump Administration? He was th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Primary Colors of the Rainbow

1.What's the difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the primary calendar? Phase 1 contains only 4 states and few delegates, but is at the start of the race and thus influential to the narrative. Phase 2 is very short but contains more than half the delegates, and thus is more consequential. 2. Which four states get to vote first, separated roughly into one each week? Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina 3. There are few delegates available in these four states, why are the primaries so important? There are few other contests occurring at the time, so these primaries have a lot of national attention. Thus, they can give candidates an edge in future primaries, and they also illustrate who the true top competitors are. 4. How many delegates are available in Phase 2? More than 60% of the total pledged delegates. 5. Which regions are holding most of their primaries on Super Tuesday? South, New England, West, and Midwest 6. How many primaries are held the followi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Koch Brothers

How did the Koch brothers describe their political goals and how did they participate politically? The brothers described their aims as "supporting 'liberty' or 'economic freedom'." They participated politically by funding ideas they supported in academia and by directly funding Republican candidates. How did the Koch family become wealthy? Their father had founded an oil refinery company, which he turned over to Charles as he died. Charles transformed the company, Koch Industries, into a "major oil refining and chemical conglomerate," which made him and David very wealthy. How did David Koch first become involved in politics? David Koch was the nominee for the vice president of the US for the Libertarian Party in 1980, as he and Charles had become involved in libertarian ideas on economics, supporting the cause with their money. Why did the Koch's escalate their political efforts when Obama became president? Obama tried to pass a health car...
Post a Comment
Read more