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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"If Clarence Thomas doesn't resign when will impeachment proceedings against him begin?"
Link to tweet
Exactly this
Gore1FL
(21,130 posts)I don't have any confidence the removal would be successful, however.
Ocelot II
(115,683 posts)Just as with a president, conviction requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate, and that's not happening.
Polybius
(15,398 posts)dem4decades
(11,288 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)Polybius
(15,398 posts)Pelosi is likely never going to impeach anyone again.
Response to Soph0571 (Original post)
YoshidaYui This message was self-deleted by its author.
maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)Impeach him for what? Failure to recuse?
Does Mary Trump think that Pelosi and the House leadership have any desire to take that on now? The J6 hearings are coming up, and they're still trying to find something Manchin will allow in a reconciliation bill.
Midnight Writer
(21,753 posts)Remember "Lock her Up!"?
Lock her up for what? Didn't matter. For the rest of her life the "Lock Her Up!" and "Crooked Hillary" tag will be the first thing many people think of when they hear her name.
They do it to our good people every day.
Why shouldn't we give it back to them?
For the rest of his life, Thomas should be labeled as the crooked Judge every time his name comes up.
Every appearance, interview, paid speaking event, he should be met with signs, chants, questions about his impeachment.
My, I'm in a high dudgeon today, aren't I?
Slammer
(714 posts)Yeah, he's got to do something worthy of impeachment, something that's not simply "following Supreme Court rules for justices as they currently exist".
His wife has a right to be a political activist.
Even if she crossed the line into being a political terrorist instead, that still wouldn't be an impeachable offense against him.
The Supreme Court has no existing set of ethical guidelines which it must follow. Each justice chooses for himself or herself whether they should recuse themselves or not.
A justice could literally be a plaintiff or a defendant in a case in front of the court and it would still be completely up to that justice whether to recuse himself.
We live in a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
If we'd wanted to install a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, we had effectively decades of control of the court in which to have done it...but deliberately chose not to.
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As for impeaching him without any basis "just because" or in retaliation for being butt-hurt over something else, that's a terrible idea.
Bill Clinton got impeached because he was involved in business with some sleazy people who ended up going to jail over it. That was objectively bad judgement on Clinton's part. And at one point Clinton as governor vetoed a bill which would have stopped his partners' main way of ripping people off (Selling land without making the purchase agreement allow the purchaser to accumulate equity though payments over time. Foreclosing after getting a couple of years of payments whenever the purchaser was a little late. Then selling the property to the next sucker to come along. All profit and selling the same lots of land over and over.) What Clinton directly took part in might not have been illegal. But some of the things his business partners did went beyond "unethical" into "illegal".
You can make an argument for an investigation into a president (of either party) who has such shady business partners. I can't think of any valid arguments in favor of the government ignoring possible wrongdoing and not looking into it.
And the House's legal counsel (title?) at the time (a Democrat) looking through the Starr Report listed 13 (or 14) impeachable offenses out of the contents of that report. (I had a link to the legal counsel's list six or seven computers ago.) The House Republicans chose to look at four of the possible impeachable offenses and to impeach on two of them, without conducting investigation or calling witnesses.
The Senate Republicans chose to not have an investigation or witnesses. They also chose not to look at any of the other possible offenses though it was entirely their right to do so. And they chose to hurry up and finish their trial because the rape allegation against Clinton was going to go public on Sunday and the Republicans had no desire to get public pressure into looking into rape allegations.
In my opinion, the Republicans had no intention of finding Clinton guilty of anything. They certainly didn't try very hard to find him guilty of anything. They used the impeachment to try to damage the Democrats politically but didn't want the Democrats to be able to put it behind them by having VP Gore to take over "after Clinton left office in disgrace".
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We chose not to impeach Trump over things which were proven, admitted, and were constitutionally a slam dunk because they were mundane items rather than being the sexiest things we could have tried to have nailed him for.
We could have impeached Trump, with valid evidence that was already in the hands of the government with no need of an investigation, in February 2017. But we didn't because nailing him for doing something rather mundane but completely unconstitutional (like receiving money from selling things to the government) wasn't sexy enough.
So we waited for the next impeachable thing to happen. And when that wasn't sexy enough, we waited for the next thing. And the next. And the next. And the next, all the while with him getting away with illegal things and becoming bolder in breaking the law because from his point of view "no one dared to hold him accountable" and from our point of view "this violation isn't quite sexy enough yet to give me complete satisfaction over nailing him".
(I've heard that syndrome referred to as "The Danger of Doing Cool Things" where people go after the impressive and flashy rather than the effective because they're more concerned with being impressive than being effective. The opposite of that was the FBI finally nailing Al Capone on tax fraud because he didn't explain his income and didn't end up nailing him for the murders and crime sprees which most everyone thought he was guilty of but couldn't quite prove.)
And that refusal to impeach Trump for things he was guilty of left him in position to commit his two big impeachable defenses. And left Republicans still willing to stand beside him rather than throwing him under the bus for the justification of "Trump just can't avoid publicly committing impeachable offenses so it's better to have Pence".
Even now, we find things in the news that are clear violations of law and I bring up, "Prosecute him and put him in jail now because sitting in jail will break his political power now", I get pushback from well-meaning Democrats who would rather nail him for everything he ever did and risk losing the country (by the delay that would entail) than to have him sitting safely in jail.
It's The Danger of Doing Cool Things.
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I think if we could talk to one of the signers of the Constitution and tell them that we weren't impeaching a justice, high-ranking federal judge, or a president every thirty years or so that he'd think to himself, "Either every American has become a saint...or people don't understand the intended role of impeachment at all".
Do we want to have impeachment as a tool to deal with Donald Trump, Don Jr., Eric, or Ivanka next time one of them becomes a high government official?
If we do, we can't use it inappropriately to harass Justice Thomas now.
We couldn't win impeachment in the House right now even with a majority of Democrats there because there's too many Democrats who understand and honor the Constitution and wouldn't be part of using a knowingly-fake impeachment charge as a harassment tactic.
If we were to try, not only would the attempt fail but it would make it much, much harder to hold real criminals who are in office accountable for their actions.
And at some point we are going to have more criminals in office who we need to hold accountable for their actions.
/rant
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,339 posts)Impeachment proceedings would be entertaining, but pointless.
Tetrachloride
(7,839 posts)Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)when conviction is not possible in the Senate.
crickets
(25,969 posts)I'd say not. Even though conviction was not likely, the effort was required and made.
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)not convicted. But it doesn't seem to have hurt him politically. Biden's approval rating is no higher than Trump's was at an equivalent point in his presidency according to at least one poll.
https://www.newsweek.com/biden-trump-identical-rating-same-point-presidency-1689201
crickets
(25,969 posts)It's about doing the right thing. It may take a while, but history will judge harshly that Republicans put party above country and refused to convict a president who was clearly guilty. Twice. Among the reasons for tfg's public opinion ratings are constant social media bombardment by Russian bot farms as well as the fawning of our own 'news' media.
Biden's approval rating has nothing to do with any of this, but the reasons for it are similar: our own media undercuts him daily, and makes a point of ignoring his successes. Most people hear what they want to hear and judge accordingly.
Scar Tissue
(9 posts)I would say impeaching him both times absolutely impacts his ability to run. It doesn't end it - and he can still win - but it does have an impact. How could it not?
Impeaching Thomas without removal has no ramifications whatsoever on him. Even if Americans turn against him, he can still continue doing what he's doing as his position is a lifetime appointment. When dealing with a position that doesn't have to report directly to the American people, impeachment without removal is toothless and pointless.
Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)elleng
(130,895 posts)and her 'friends,' but there is no basis for resignation or impeachment within S. Ct. rules.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)https://www.politico.com/story/2011/01/thomas-revises-disclosure-forms-048086
Last week, watchdog group Common Cause reported that none of the nearly $690,000 the Heritage Foundation said it had paid Ginni Thomas between 2003 and 2007 had been reported on Justice Thomass annual financial disclosure forms.
In a statement Monday, the group said did not believe Thomass explanation.
Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions, said Bob Edgar, Common Causes president. It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form. We find his excuse is implausible.
Scrivener7
(50,949 posts)Of course it should happen. Yesterday. But it won't.
Zeitghost
(3,858 posts)to impeach and the Senate has even fewer that would convict.
Trying and failing badly this close to the midterms would be disastrous, especially with no evidence of an actual high crime or misdemeanor.
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)But of course as you said the Senate is a dead end.
Zeitghost
(3,858 posts)We wouldn't come close in the House, especially before the mid terms. There is no evidence of any crime and without that, it's a non-starter in the House.
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)The House has the power to impeach him for any reason or even no reason at all.
Fiendish Thingy
(15,601 posts)fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)The court will lose all credibility if he remains.
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,369 posts)You mean the Court still has credibility?
IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)You think the other party cares about credibility?
Hekate
(90,674 posts)multigraincracker
(32,674 posts)the begging of what we will find out about him and the Mrs. Lots more to come out, so stay tuned in.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Mr. Ected
(9,670 posts)At the highest level of government, a system that permits suggestions but little in the manner of prescription, we are limited in our jurisprudence. The boundless dearth of ethics on the right was not a concept entertained in the 18th century but without them, a self-policing judiciary could pose an existential threat to our democracy.
Karadeniz
(22,513 posts)all his conflicts of interest. I think he also failed to report income.
Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)there is no way to remove him short of a successful impeachment in the House and a successful conviction in the Senate.
budkin
(6,703 posts)For real.
Response to Soph0571 (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Kaleva
(36,298 posts)SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)DownriverDem
(6,228 posts)No repubs would impeach Thomas.
Rebl2
(13,498 posts)AdamGG
(1,291 posts)I'd at least get to hear him babble about a high tech lynching again to bookend his "career".
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)The only way he goes is if dies or becomes totally incapacitated, my prediction. Senate would never remove/ convict him even if he were impeached.
mysteryowl
(7,383 posts)I am getting very cynical that there is no justice in our branches of government.
Maybe the corruption and anti-American is too thick and deep.
Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)expect by our founders that honorable men would-be judges and Senators...and sadly Republicans are not honorable.
mysteryowl
(7,383 posts)Definition:
"Lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain"
I do know what you are getting at though.
Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)I think he is corrupt as hell...but there is no way to get rid of him except through impeachment and conviction...and I think impeachment would hurt us politically when there can be no conviction. Poll after poll show voters are sick of 'politics'.
mysteryowl
(7,383 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,135 posts)It assumed the power of judicial review for itself based on its own interpretation of the Constitution. Judicial review is why SCOTUS is so powerful. And both checks on the court impeachment or amending the constitution have very high bars. No other checks have that high of a bar.
If the founders had intended judicial review to be a power, I think they would have either made those checks easier or structured the court differently.
Kablooie
(18,632 posts)To say it's likely his wife's politics influenced his decisions isn't enough.
There must be hard proof and I don't expect that to emerge.
So this too will pass ... with no consequences for Republicans as always.
BGBD
(3,282 posts)Cosmo Blues
(2,481 posts)For the 6th year in 42 years. It would take 60 Republican House members and 18 Republican Senators, to join with us to oust a member of the Supreme Court. Our time is better spent doing things we might be able to get done
BannonsLiver
(16,370 posts)Demsrule86
(68,556 posts)without a Senate willing to convict.
Raine
(30,540 posts)actually he should never have been on the court in first place.