Eccentric Flower talk:200906/Unsackable de Botton Photos and Trolls

ProfRobert:

Yes, Supreme Court justices are subject to impeachment and removal for high crimes and misdemeanors. Indeed, one of the pivotal moments of the new republic was when Jeffersonians in the House impeached Federalist Justice Samuel Chase whose crime was, um, being a Federalist. The Senate refused to convict, thus setting the precedent that the Court would remain independent of changes in the Executive and Legislative (i.e., the Supreme Court does not follow the "iliction returns," as Mr. Dooley would have).

Judges of the lower federal courts can also be impeached and on several occasions, convicted. I think most recently it was Alcee Hastings, removed from the bench for bribery. The Senate, however, did not bar him from further federal office, which is why he can now be found as a member of the House of Representatives.

-- 18:36, 1 June 2009 (BST)

Mel:

FYI - Aet's picture says I don't have permission to view it.

I knew some lower-court judges had been impeached, but I've never even heard anybody breathe a word about impeaching a Supreme, so it never occurred to me. (Just give it time, I'm sure. The same dorks that are now busily impeaching the intelligence of the nominee, never mind that she was second in her class at an Ivy League school, will undoubtedly keep on trying.)

-- 05:42, 2 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

The Economist and I are both expecting Sotomayor to get confirmed easily, actually.

-- 15:29, 2 June 2009 (BST)

ProfRobert:

P.S. Don't you remember the Impeach Earl Warren bumper stickers from the '60s? Also, Jerry Ford, while in Congress, led an effort to impeach William O. Douglas (that went nowhere, though Ford had the second-to-last laugh when he appointed Douglas's replacement -- the last laugh went to that replacement, John Paul Stevens). There was even a chance Abe Fortas would have impeached for real, had he not resigned, because of some financial improprieties.

-- 15:39, 2 June 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

PS @Mel: Aet nuked the photo. I sort of expected she would. You can't win. If no one notices her she takes it as a rejection but the instant it becomes obvious someone HAS seen her, she deletes the evidence.

-- 16:15, 2 June 2009 (BST)