Discussion: PA Gov Blasts 'Undemocratic' GOP Impeachment Bid Over Gerrymandering

[pike_bishop]

[pike_bishop]

Respectfully, i disagree:

repugnicans have tens of Billions in tax breaks to offer their oligarchic masters and donors

Period

[tecmage]

They don’t want to go down this road. Republicans seem to believe that they have the divine right to be in charge. That’s scary, because they will pull stunts like this when they don’t get their way. Remember when Republicans kept talking about Obama as if he was going to single-handedly destroy Democracy? They are working in lockstep to destroy it.

[bardi]

I think this is less about the fact that they can be replaced and more about the idea that judges must toe the GOP line – or else.

Actually your comment could be broadened to say that “judges must toe the ruling party line”, which, of course, is not their job.

[dweb]

So Pat Toomey is concerned about Judicial activism…

Uh Pat…how about Senatorial activism on your part…
Siding with Mitch McConnell in stealing a Supreme Court nomination from the Obama administration…

And almost single handedly working to gut the Export Import bank by blue slipping four Senate Banking Committee nominations to fill vacancies on the Bank’s board.

The Bank board lacks the quorum needed to approve loan guarantees for US export projects. The problem has existed from the start of the Trump administration. The majority of the Senate has strongly supported the Bank. Toomey’s blockage is holding up what is now conservatively estimated to be well over 30 Billion dollars of US exports and the jobs that go with them and the director nominations were approved by the committee almost unanimously.

If he keeps up his opposition, the Bank, which is self funded by user fees and commissions, could soon collapse. Over sixty other nations worldwide have export finance agencies like the bank and aggressively use them to generate domestic exports, especially China which has been pushing infrastructure and development projects worldwide, particularly in Africa.

Tell us again how the GOP is all about jobs Pat…

[yeahbutwalter]

I think the next point is that PA judges are elected. With a new map drawn, it doesn’t seem like they could stack the court even if they pull this bs stunt off.

[losamigos]

Seems like someone needs to bring a gerrymandering case against the state legislature

That’s the rub. The gerrymandered, Repub majority legislature is threatening to impeach direct-elected state supreme court judges because they possibly would eliminate some of Repubs in office due to gerrymander.

Their reasoning? It’s unconstitutional.
Too funny.

[careysub]

To the right-wing there are no rules, no standards, no shame any more.

It is all out war all the time against anything that stands in the way of right-wing power.

[mymy]

It is a different approach: impeach the judges who made the correct call. I don’t know how they appoint judges to the PA Supreme Court, but if the Democratic governor gets to appoint, I don’t see where this gets the GOP–except more publicity as a party that can’t win unless it cheats big time.

[paulw]

You begin to see what the founders were complaining about.

[navamske]

34 of the 50 PA state senators are Republicans and it takes 2/3rds of the entire senate, or every Republican senator, to impeach PA state Supreme Court Justices.

to impeach convict PA state Supreme Court Justices

[civarum]

If the republicans were indeed successful in removing the Justices (each in a separate proceeding) Governor Wolff (D) would then appoint replacements to serve until the next election -pending senate confirmation. During all of this upheaval the current decision of the court, and hence the new congressional map, will stand. There is no win here for PA republicans except to stir up their base.

[joriep]

Pennsylvania – The Texas of the East.

Well actually, nearly all the statewide offices are held by Democrats because they don’t have to contend with the gerrymandering issue. All the legislative offices have been horribly skewed for years through the GOP’s machinations.

[clearwater]

But in the meantime the decision stands. Impeaching the judges won’t change that.

[paulw]

So has anyone brought a similar suit about the state legislature’s districts? The analysis would obviously have to be bigger, but the state constitution would still apply.

[fiftygigs]

The map has typically given Republicans 13 out of 18 congressional seats, even as they have won around 50 percent of the statewide vote.

It’s not about quotas.

It’s about getting government out of our lives. Just draw some damn squares. Stop getting all “artsy” with your districts, conservatives.

Districts shouldn’t have to change that much. Right?

[paulw]

Thanks to Facebook and other big data, it’s now also quite easy to draw squares that will disenfranchise people. Gummint is always going to be in the part of our lives that’s about electing a gummint.

[johncrandell]

BUT, would the SCOTUS weigh and rule whether or not there is any difference between the Republican Party and Organized Crime (?) and then nullify any successful effort to oust the Democratic PA jurors.

[johncrandell]

i.e. - it’s defacto Organized Crime.

[martinstett]

Who owns those bastards?
Koch?
Tea Party?
AFP?