Impeachment & Other Threats

“The judges need to be intimidated. … We're going to go after them in a big way.”

—Thomas DeLay, then-House Republican leader

 Fighting Back Against 'Judge-Bashing'

“Judge-bashing”—villainizing judges and threatening them with impeachment, budget cuts and even death—is one of the most disturbing trends of the past decade. Such attacks fly squarely against the intent of our nation’s Founders.

Examples in recent years:

• In 2005, conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly threatened a Supreme Court justice, saying that Anthony M. Kennedy’s opinion against the death penalty for juveniles was “a good ground of impeachment.”
  

• In 2006, the “J.A.I.L. 4 Judges” ballot measure would have exposed South Dakota judges to lawsuits and criminal prosecution for “wrong” decisions. Voters crushingly defeated the measure.
  
  
• National TV anchors have called for removal of local judges for sentencing decisions.
  
  
• In 2009, radio show host Hal Turner wrote in his blog that three federal judges should be “killed,” for upholding a Chicago ban on handgun sales. Turner faces federal prosecution.
  
  
• Jay Bybee, a Republican-appointed federal appellate judge, has faced calls for impeachment over legal opinions he wrote in the George W. Bush administration.

Resources on Impeachment & Other Threats