Justice John Paul Steven's dissent in the Citizen's United case comments on the extraordinary way that the cases were brought before the Supreme Court and decided by Chief Justice Roberts when not properly before the court.
Justice Stevens said of the process, that it would be more accurate to state that, "we have asked ourselves to reconsider those cases." Democratic Congressman, Rep. Peter DeFazio is raising the prospect of impeaching the Supreme Court's chief justice over the issue on the basis that in the 2005 confirmation hearings, Roberts famously said, "Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them."
According to DeFazion, Roberts hasn't stood by his own doctrine. While nothing in Roberts' testimony is likely to be fairly characterized as perjury the reality is that the check and balance design of our constitution has been compromised by the political process highlighting the need for election reform, transparency and government accountability.
Amanda Terkel reporting for the Huffington Post article can be located:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/peter-defazio-impeachment-chief-justice-john-roberts_n_771431.html
The last Supreme Court justice to face impeachment hearings was Samuel Chase in the early 1800s, who faced charges that he was being too partisan on behalf of the Federalist Party. The House of Representatives impeached him but the Senate did not convict, and he remained on the bench.
ReplyDeleteLegal scholars doubt that impeachment hearings against Roberts would go anywhere.
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