GOP Platform Says ‘Impeachment’ Is A Solution To Judicial Decisions The GOP Opposes

[highplainsdem]

Source: ThinkProgress

Last year, former GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich delivered an authoritarian speech where he promised that if elected president he would ignore court decisions he disagrees with, wage a campaign of intimidation against judges, and even potentially impeach judges who interpret the Constitution in way he disapproves of. Gingrich lost the GOP primary, but his spirit lives on in the Republican Party’s draft platform:

Despite improvements as a result of Republican nominations to the judiciary, some judges in the federal courts remain far afield from their constitutional limitations. The U.S. Constitution is the law of the land. Judicial activism which includes reliance on foreign law or unratified treaties undermines American law. The sole solution, apart from impeachment, is the appointment of constitutionist jurists, who will interpret the law as it was originally intended rather than make it. That is both a presidential responsibility, in selected judicial candidates, and a senatorial responsibility, in confirming them. We urge Republican Senators to do all in their power to prevent the elevation of additional leftist ideologues to the courts, particularly in the waning days of the current Administration.

There’s something quaint about Republicans expecting the nation to still believe they care about judicial activism after they spent the last two years pushing an attack on the Affordable Care Act that, in the words of a top conservative judge, had no basis “in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court precedent.” Or, for that matter, after many Republicans have declared everything from Social Security to Medicare to national child labor laws unconstitutional. Activist judging is the backbone of Republican constitutional theory, not the enemy of it.

Moreover, if Republicans really cared what our founding fathers thought about important constitutional questions like judicial independence, they would not even consider the idea of impeaching a judge simply because of a partisan disagreement. The Constitution provides that judges “shall hold their offices during good behaviour,” not so long as a political party agrees with them, and this principle was affirmed very early in American history.

-snip-

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/27/746331/gop-platform-says-impeachment-is-a-solution-to-judicial-decisions-the-gop-disagrees-with/

[Turbineguy]

1. If it's OK for

Hitler, it's OK for the GOP.

Of course, they don't shoot the Judges afterwards. At least not yet anyway.

[cyclezealot]

2. How Republican:Impeachment for philosophical reasons, but for corrupt behavior.

That is OK.. As was the case with Thomas not declaring special interest income on his income taxes. that is OK.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

7. A Criminal Conspiracy to Undermine the Courts...

To be clear, the 2012 GOP platform states, unequivicably, that instead of appealing court rulings with which they ideaologically oppose up to the Supreme Court, they intend on simply impeaching sitting justices who refuse to tow the party line, and thereby taint the court's impartiality.

Friends, I contend that even whispering this noxious plan of theirs - let alone writing it down and placing it on the Republican Party's national platform - is a criminal conspiracy.

If you've had enough of the radical right's bullshit, join the Rockford Sons of Liberty, on facebook, @ https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/RockfordSOL/

We don't want your money.

We want you to stand up along side us.

[The Blue Flower]

3. Not bullets?

What, are they going all pacifist now?

[dmosh42]

4. Just like the "Nazis" in the 1930s!

[SoapBox]

16. Ditto

[patrice]

5. Some churches . . . !

[Grins]

6. Watch your back...

...Chief Justice Roberts! Message sent.

[AlbertCat]

12. Watch your back......Chief Justice Roberts!

Can WE impeach him for his activist Citizens United decisions then?

[Panasonic]

8. Retroactive impeachment for ALL GOP judges

effective IMMEDIATELY.

Including Fat Tony, Alito, Clarence, John, and Anthony Kennedy.

If GOP wants to destroy themselves, so let them - they are already abusing the Constitution by wiping it repeatedly on their asses.

[JudyM]

25. +1 n/t

[on point]

9. And this s from people who claim to love the constitution!!

The founders made judges appointed for life EXACTLY to avoid this kind of pressure. Impeachment is for corruption, not philosophical disagreements. They neither understand nor support the constitution.

[onehandle]

10. And Madame Guillotine Is A Solution For The Path That The 1% Are Putting Us On.

[Javaman]

11. Queue the military coupe d'estate...

I have this feeling if the repukes basically ignore the constitution, there would be some military men that wouldn't think kindly to that.

quickly followed by a minor civil war.

I'm always amused by repukes who enjoy using their feet for target practice.

[SoapBox]

13. They dream of a Dictatorship

...do what we fuck'n tell you or it's off to Gitmo.

The 99%, ALL of the 99%, should be terrified.

[AlbertCat]

14. who will interpret the law as it was originally intended

So.... you can own a flintlock if you're in a militia.... period!

[Historic NY]

15. What ever happened to the "Rule of Law"....

this runs counter to it.

[FiveGoodMen]

22. They don't believe in "State's Rights" either if the feds are currently siding with them

Anyone still taking what the GOP says at face value is incapable of learning.

[Akoto]

17. Wouldn't this "philosophy" wipe out every Constitutional amendment? n/t

[patrice]

18. Some churches are FASCISM. nt

[barbtries]

19. they have little use

for our system of governance and/or justice. no wonder they make me SICK.

[avebury]

20. K&R nt

[PatrynXX]

21. probably happen to mittens

if he cheats and wins in November and then the tax returns hit the fan. he'll end up being impeached on January.

[bamacrat]

23. So judicial activism is only ok if its neocon activism..

I fear that our government has become too divided and we may never again be able to have a functioning one. We seem to be forever doomed to tiny advances and massive regression. That being said, i hope that if Mittens is elected the Dems filibuster everything, and I mean everything. Make them propose centrist/progressive ideas just to get something done like they have done to Obama since he has been elected. And if Obama wins (which I think he will, albeit narrowly) fuck the right and go hard left.

Just a thought.

[JudyM]

24. I thought they felt the Bible is the law of the land...

or at least the parts they spew out all the time (not the loving/social responsibility parts, the 'rules' -- some of which they, themselves don't even adhere to, e.g., adultery, honesty/fairness in business, etc).

i'll never forget reading scalia's opinion in bowers vs hardwick (the ga sodomy case from the 80's), basing his seethingly homophobic vitriol on the Bible instead of the Constitution. hatred as a Biblical theme has really caught on, in the name of 'saving the country'. self-important, arrogant, emotional idiots.

[summerschild]

26. Well, so much for all that "balance of power" crap.....

[tanyev]

27. They love a democracy, as long as they can control everything that happens within it.

[MFrohike]

28. Inaccuracy

"Moreover, if Republicans really cared what our founding fathers thought about important constitutional questions like judicial independence, they would not even consider the idea of impeaching a judge simply because of a partisan disagreement."

Jefferson's mob did exactly this as soon as he got power in 1801. Marshall's opinion in Marbury was carefullly written so as not to attack Jefferson because he (Marshall) was at the top of the enemies' list. Given that the GOP are the real intellectual heirs of Jefferson, Jefferson-Jackson Day is a tradition not a reflection of reality, it's no surprise that they'd adopt his methods.

[24601]

29. It looks like the editor who wrote the headline hadn't read the text that came from

the platform since it's not advocating impeachment. It instead advocates preventing confirmation by senatorial action. Given that this is precisely what Senator Obama tried to do preventing the confirmation votes, it's not un unreasonable course - noting that the two major parties have little common ground over who is acceptable.

Apparently the editor also missed that it was a draft.

A better headline would be "GOP Draft Platform Proposed Blocking Judicial Confirmations"

[fascisthunter]

30. GOP Platform thinks America should be a Christian Totalitarian Fascist State

[fascisthunter]

31. keep defunding the social programs that lift the poor or average

you'll get more of that same... just what a Machiavelli right wing nut job wants.

[primavera]

32. ACS just released an article about this

Hobbling Independence of Courts: Special Interests Target LGBT Judges, Courts that Support Equality

Beyond the increasing attacks on judges who are openly gay or those who issue opinions advancing equality for LGBT persons, the independence of courts is being undermined by a growing stream of money flowing into judicial elections.

For ten years money in judicial elections has been on the rise, said Justice at Stake’s Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy Liz Seaton. But a new report from the Center of American Progress (CAP) shows a disconcerting uptick in the amount of money being spent to shape the make-up of state Supreme Courts.

Seaton citing the CAP report showing that state high courts receiving the most financial support are those, perhaps not surprisingly, “much more likely to rule in favor of big businesses and against individuals who have been injured, scammed, or subjected to discrimination.”

“The folks who have a lot of money to spend in judicial races,” Seaton continued, “are not looking to protect individual rights or civil rights; that’s not their goal.”

[Monk06]

33. They're calling Chief Justice Roberts and activist and a traitor for ruling against them on the ACA.

He was also nominated and confirmed on the same basis. The RW thought he was their guy.

As far as impeachment goes, they're not just referring to judges. The unstated goal is the impeachment of Obama if he wins again. Mark my words if Obama wins birtherism and Obama's past will be front and center and they will do it the same way they did it with Clinton. Force Obama to testify to something, anything, under oath and then try to prove he lied.

I hope I'm proven wrong in the next two years but it would not surprise me one bit.