Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to impeach a recently elected state Supreme Court justice and raised the possibility of doing the same to the state’s election director.
A Georgia Republican called for impeaching the Fulton County prosecutor who brought racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump. Republicans in the Pennsylvania House have already impeached the top prosecutor in Philadelphia.
None of the targets met the bar traditionally set for impeachment — credible allegations of committing a crime while in office. Their offense: staking out positions legislative Republicans didn’t like.
As Republicans in Congress begin their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, the process is calling attention to the increasing use of impeachment in the states as a partisan political weapon rather than as a step of last resort for officeholders believed to have committed a serious offense.
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Over the past two years, Republicans also have sought to pry Democrats and nonpartisan executives from office through recalls, legislative maneuvers and forced removals, even when no allegations of wrongdoing have surfaced.
On Friday, the state’s Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the gerrymandered maps on a partisan 4-3 vote, with the new justice declining to step aside, thereby increasing the chances of an impeachment.
A panel of lower-court judges split on the legality of impeaching Krasner, who was reelected overwhelmingly in 2021, but issued a lead opinion casting doubt on the charges.
It said they failed to meet the constitutional requirement that reserves impeachment for “misbehavior in office.” The state Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for late November.
After Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought charges against Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, some state legislative and congressional Republicans called for the Legislature to impeach her.
Gavin Newsom handily defeated a 2021 recall attempt staged by Republicans, who have not won a statewide office in years and based their campaign on the governor’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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