Impeachments are supposed to be for crimes committed in office while recalls are intended to remove elected officials suspected of corruption or gross negligence.

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.

  • @spider@lemmy.nz
    32•1 year ago

    Republicans are the only ones who are weaponizing baseless impeachments.

    They’re apparently trying to normalize impeachment so that it’s not regarded as seriously as it once was.

    More validation for Trump, basically.

    • @Kleinbonum@feddit.de
      13•1 year ago

      They’re doing two things:

      • They’re trying to make Trump’s impediments appear less severe than they were, and
      • Use impeachments to remove democratically elected officials from office without cause.