Can Scalia be impeached?

[Carol]

link

This is an interesting thread. It has a little bit of everything.

Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 07:41 PM
Original message
Can Scalia be impeached?

The only way to oust a Supreme Court justice is through impeachment (unless they retire or die first).

So is it impossible to impeach Scalia (or any of the other wingnut fanatics on the Supreme Court)? My short opinion is, no. After all, Clinton was impeached for a blow job which hurt no one. On the other hand, Scalia and his fellow wingnuts on the court have virtually destroyed any hope of fair and free elections in America.

I’m not a lawyer. But there must be many lawyers here on DU.

So this is more of a question than a statement. Are there any legal grounds for impeaching Scalia?

Dreamer Tatum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 07:42 PM
Response to Original message
1. You would maybe first have to cite a law he broke.

Can you work on that first?

Dreamer Tatum Donating Member (1000+ posts)
4. I think there is the I Just Hate Him statute that might apply.

Usually impeachment requires a more compelling crime, but hey.

A little bit of reality.

provis99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:19 PM
Response to Reply #1
15. you don't need him to commit a crime to impeach him.

Edited on Mon May-23-11 08:19 PM by provis99
Theoretically, a judge could be impeached simply because those in favor of impeachment got enough votes.

cayanne Donating Member (612 posts) Mon May-23-11 07:56 PM
Response to Original message
9. Clinton wasn't impeached for a blow job.

Clinton was impeached because he lied under oath, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted in the senate. He was disbarred because of it too.

:eek: More reality?

Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. Yes, but let's get back to the reality of planet Earth.

Edited on Mon May-23-11 08:12 PM by Cyrano
Clinton was impeached because of a blow job and because the majority of Republicans in the House knew they could make it stick.

This has to have been one of the most outrages abuses of power by any congress in American history.

Nonetheless, it went nowhere because the Senate threw it on the garbage heap of history.

So back to my original question. Can/should Scalia be impeached?

I know we don't have the votes in the House, but if we win the House back in 2012, are there any reasonable grounds to impeach him?

provis99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #9
16. No, Clinton did not lie under oath.

Where did you get these right wing talking points from?

Denial, ignorance, or pig headed willful ignorance? Take your pick.

WillowTree (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:17 PM
Response to Original message
14. You can't impeach a judge or justice just because you don't like their rulings.

And you'd better thank whomever it's your practice to thank in such instances that you can't. Otherwise the Republican-controlled House would be busily bringing articles of impeachment against justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagen about once a month.

Some of them never seem to think of that. They always think that they and their politicians can do whatever they want and it won't come back to bite them in the butt.

[djones520]

That was a lot of reasonable thought for a single DU thread. I'm rather amazed.

[noonwitch]

Do they even bother to teach government class anymore in high school? In 1982, it was a graduation requirement. They even had 3 tiers of classes for students of different academic standing, at my school, because it was considered important enough for even the short bus kids to take it.

[SarasotaRepub]

Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. Yes, but let's get back to the reality of planet Earth.

HA!!!! Cyrano made a funny. :D

[ralph wiggum]

provis99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-23-11 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #9
16. No, Clinton did not lie under oath.

Where did you get these right wing talking points from?

From that notable right-wing source Wikipedia:

Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeach...f_Bill_Clinton

Look, the whole thing was rather shady, but the facts are facts. Clinton lied under oath.