But will congress enforce the rules? By enforce, I mean using the power of Impeachment and voting to convict under said Article(s) of Impeachment. Otherwise, any rules are pointless. A president can only be prosecuted after leaving office, how do prosecute a sitting supreme court justice who serves for life? Even if you did, they’d still be a sitting justice that can rule from prison since criminal conviction =/= impeachment conviction, and I’d imagine the case could go up to the very court that he/she sit in, and it only takes 4 of their collegues plus their own vote to overturn their own conviction.
In this political climate, it’s practically impossible to convict a justice under the impeachment procedure.
An impeachment is not a criminal trial, the Supreme Court would have no authority to make a decision in an impeachment.
Impeachment is purely a political tool to remove nefarious actors from the government. So an impeached justice would have his spot on the bench taken away, and then would be a regular citizen who can face trial and imprisonment like any other.
If they decide to ignore that rule, it’s literally the job the of the president to have them arrested and brought before congress to face their impeachment.
I would hope if the court tried to play that hand, congress would actually start using their authority and install a new court, but I trust congress to have a spine as much as I trust my 102 year old neighbor to mow his lawn.
But don’t worry, that would be like the 3rd constitutional crisis we’ve had in 5 years. They’re getting kind of boring now anyway.
But will congress enforce the rules? By enforce, I mean using the power of Impeachment and voting to convict under said Article(s) of Impeachment. Otherwise, any rules are pointless. A president can only be prosecuted after leaving office, how do prosecute a sitting supreme court justice who serves for life? Even if you did, they’d still be a sitting justice that can rule from prison since criminal conviction =/= impeachment conviction, and I’d imagine the case could go up to the very court that he/she sit in, and it only takes 4 of their collegues plus their own vote to overturn their own conviction.
In this political climate, it’s practically impossible to convict a justice under the impeachment procedure.
Would be interesting to see a sitting Supreme Court justice who has been impeached but not convicted.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/04/07/supreme-court-justice-impeached/
Archive (Paywall-Free Version): https://archive.is/IcDV5
That is a great article! Thanks for linking it, especially with the archive link.
An impeachment is not a criminal trial, the Supreme Court would have no authority to make a decision in an impeachment.
Impeachment is purely a political tool to remove nefarious actors from the government. So an impeached justice would have his spot on the bench taken away, and then would be a regular citizen who can face trial and imprisonment like any other.
If they decide to ignore that rule, it’s literally the job the of the president to have them arrested and brought before congress to face their impeachment.
I would hope if the court tried to play that hand, congress would actually start using their authority and install a new court, but I trust congress to have a spine as much as I trust my 102 year old neighbor to mow his lawn.
But don’t worry, that would be like the 3rd constitutional crisis we’ve had in 5 years. They’re getting kind of boring now anyway.