July 3, 2024
“The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control. Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It’s up to congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture. I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return.”
There you go. That’s the plan from democratic representative form New York Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. What brought this one? This week’s presidential immunity ruling from the Supreme Court. But can she do that?
Let’s take this piece by piece.
Starting with the basics. Can Supreme Court justices be impeached? The simple answer is… absolutely. In fact that’s the only punishment the constitution allows for any federal judge – including Supreme Court justices. Article III of the constitution says a judge nominated by the president and confirmed by the United States senate – which includes justices – “shall hold their office during good behavior.” That has been interpreted to mean, once they are confirmed by the senate, that’s a lifetime appointment – except under very limited circumstances. Article III goes on to say judges can be removed *only* through impeachment by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. As we know articles of impeachment can be raised in the House of Representatives for what are called “high crimes and misdemeanors” and only require a simple majority to pass. A conviction in the senate requires a two-thirds vote.
Ok – now that we’re clear on that – let’s go back to Representative Ocasio Cortez’s statement. It’s vague. She does not say which justice or justices she wants to impeach and she does not specify what act they have committed to warrant articles for high crimes and misdemeanors. Those are big questions that need to be answered before articles can be drawn up.
Now – let’s talk about the reality of the representative’s statement. First – Republicans control the House of Representatives. Not the Democrats. And without the Speaker of the House’s blessing – no piece of legislation – including articles of impeachment against the supreme court will ever make it to the floor for a vote. And even if a miracle happened, and somehow they did — the house is on recess this week for the fourth of July holiday. And they are only going to be in Washington DC for 11 total days in the month of July. And they are scheduled to be on recess the entire month of August. So there’s not a lot of time for it.
One more huge reality check on this whole supreme court impeachment idea. In the entire history of our country – only one Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached. Associate justice Samuel Chase. The House impeached him on March 12th 1804 on charges of arbitrary and oppressive conduct of trials. He was acquitted by the Senate a year later. And he stayed on the court until his death in 1811.
