Tim Milbrodt
Pols 304
Blog Post 1
Impeaching a Supreme Court Justice
In the last
week more allegations of sexual assault or misconduct have surfaced against
recently appointed Supreme Court Justice Bret Kavanaugh. In the wake of these
new allegations, Democratic Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have
called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment (Zhou 2019). The calls from Harris and
Warren for impeachment are examples of national representation because these
Senators are trying to display leadership on a national scale; something which
may also serve to increase the chances of each Senator becoming the next
Democratic candidate for President (Adler et al 2019). While these Senators
themselves cannot initiate an impeachment based on Article I of the U.S.
Constitution, their calls for impeachment have spurred younger colleagues in
the House of Representatives to take action.
Recently,
Representative Ayanna Pressley filed an impeachment resolution against
Kavanaugh in the House of Representatives. If the House passes the resolution,
it would launch an investigation against Kavanaugh by the House Judiciary
Committee (Zhou 2019). After the investigation the House could then initiate
impeachment proceedings by a simple majority vote. According to Article I of
the United States Constitution, the Senate would then conduct an impeachment
trial, with a two thirds majority vote necessary for conviction. If Kavanaugh
were to be impeached and removed from the Supreme Court, it would be the first
time in United States history that Congress has successfully executed the
impeachment of a United States Supreme Court Justice. While Congress has
removed eight federal judges from office via impeachment, the only attempted
impeachment of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice failed to remove Samuel Chase from
the bench when he was acquitted in 1805 (Brockell 2019). While Kavanaugh’s fate
remains uncertain for now, there are several factors which will influence the
outcome.
Representatives
such as Ayanna Pressley looking to initiate impeachment proceedings currently
have an attentive public backing them, as sexual assault has become an issue of
concern for many voters. Currently advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood
and Demand Justice have called for further investigation into the allegations
against Kavanaugh (Zhou 2019). These attentive publics and groups will have
some impact on legislators as they are the individuals most likely to organize,
donate time and money, and vote in elections (Adler et al 2019). The fact that
Rep. Pressley has many colleagues who are also freshman congress people could
increase her chances of success. As Adler et al note “...newly elected members
of Congress will often reflect the most recent trends in public opinion better
than the members they replace...”(Adler et al 2019). These newly elected
representatives would be more likely to be influenced by recent social
movements such as #MeToo, making them more likely to vote in favor of
initiating this process. While these factors might increase the chances of
Kavanaugh being impeached, there are many factors which suggest Rep. Pressley’s
attempt will likely end in failure.
While Rep.
Pressley may have an attentive public backing her position, she does not seem
to have unified backing from her party, as Democratic members of the House
Judiciary Committee are currently more focused on their attempts to impeach the
President (Silverstein 2019). If this challenge is overcome and the House does
vote to impeach Kavanaugh, this action will face its biggest challenge in the
U.S. Senate where the Republicans hold fifty-three seats and the Democrats hold
forty-five seats. With the Republicans holding the majority in the Senate,
getting the two-thirds majority necessary for a conviction may be an
insurmountable hurdle for Democrats favoring impeachment.
Still, it is not inconceivable that
Kavanaugh could be impeached as hypothetically, if a big enough minority from
the Republican party were to vote in favor of conviction along with the
Democratic minority, they could overcome the Republican majority in what is
known as a “roll” (Hitt 2019). However, this is highly unlikely based on the
fact that the current Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell has been an
outspoken supporter of Bret Kavanaugh’s since his confirmation hearings last
fall (Silverstein 2019). Republican Senators would be highly unlikely to
jeopardize re-election, or a desired committee appointment by going against the
current Senate Majority Leader. Adler et
al note that “...filling vacancies on the Supreme Court has emerged as one of the
most partisan issues of the 21st Century” (Adler et al 2019). Because of this I
suggest that the impeachment of a Supreme Court Justice is likely to be an
extremely partisan issue as well, making the possibility of removing Bret
Kavanaugh by impeachment an extremely unlikely outcome at this time.
Sources
Cited
Adler, Scott E., Jenkins, Jeffery A., and Shipan, Charles R.
The United States Congress, first ed.
W.W. Norton & Co. 2019. Ebook.
Kindle.
Brockell, Gillian. “Only One Supreme Court Justice Has Ever
Been Impeached”. The Washington
Post. 16 September 2019.
Hitt, Mathew. “Social Choice and History”. Lecture. Colorado
State University. 9 September
2019.
Silverstein, Jason. “Could Bret Kavanaugh Be Impeached?”.
CBS News. 16 September 2019.
Zhou, Li. “Ayanna Pressley Just Filed an Impeachment
Resolution Against Bret Kavanaugh in the
House”. Vox. 17 September 2019.
This was a really well written post. It made some very good points from each side. The quote from Adler et al. about newly elected members representing the more recent trends in public opinion more than the members that they replace really stood out to me. That is not something that stood out to me initially in the reading, but especially in this case, I think that it is very true. Newly elected officials probably campaign more on current issues compared to the agenda and focus of current officials. These new people want to serve their constituents well, so they will focus on the things that are currently happening in order to win votes.
ReplyDeleteGreat article all around. You are absolutely correct when you point out that the Senate is highly unlikely to convict Kavanaugh. The only Supreme Court justice to be impeached was Samuel Chase in 1805 but he was not convicted by the Senate. The same goes for the only two presidents that were impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither president was convicted by the Senate. Given the current Republican majority, there is no way a supermajority could be reached in order to impeach Kavanaugh. The Democrats could possibly move forward with impeachment if they win back the Senate and keep the House but they would have to win by a significant margin.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post and a great topic. When most people think of Impeachment, they often think of the president. I believe you did a great job showing how a supreme court justice can be impeached. Additionally, I can honestly say that I learned something new from reading your post. Personally I am interested to see how history will view these current events and the actions that are taking place within our government. For example, I am not sure history will be too kind to those who allowed Kavanaugh to be a Justice. I personally think that his seat in the court will have long lasting effects on this country.
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