Impeaching a Supreme Court justice is the kind of radical-sounding idea that arises at the limit of public patience with the court. But the notion has a real precedent in American politics.
Frederic J. Frommer, a writer and sports historian, is the author of several books, including “You Gotta Have Heart: Washington Baseball from Walter Johnson to the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals.” Follow him on Twitter @ffrommer
, “The court has been accused of everything from coddling criminals and handcuffing the police to approving hard-core pornography and banishing God from the public schools.” President Richard Nixon tried to put his stamp on the court soon after assuming office in 1969 with a pair of conservative nominees, but the Senate rejected both of them, fueling his fury at both the court and congressional Democrats.
Regional political issues were also a factor. Nixon, whose “Southern Strategy” helped him win the White House in 1968, looked to consolidate those gains by naming a Southerner to the court. Ford called the Senate’s rejection of Nixon’s first two choices “a slap in the face” of the South.
In that book, Douglas wrote: “We must realize that today’s Establishment is the new George III, Whether it will continue to adhere to his tactics, we do not know. If it does, the redress, honored in tradition, is also revolution.” Avant Garde“When I first encountered the facts of Mr. Justice Douglas’ involvement with pornographic publications and espousal of hippie-yippie style revolution, I was inclined to dismiss his fractious behavior as the first sign of senility,” Ford said.
In addition, Ford suggested that the justice, who had been nominated to the court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, might have ties to Mafia and gambling figures. He called for an investigation into Douglas’ behavior, adding, “I would vote to impeach him right now.” The impeachment efforts were widely seen as a political ploy even at the time, but Justice Douglas took the campaign seriously. “The attacks and investigations preoccupied Douglas,” Bob Woodward and Jack Armstrong wrote in The Brethren. “He was now determined to outlast the Nixon presidency.
“The attacks and investigations preoccupied Douglas,” the authors wrote. “He was now determined to outlast the Nixon presidency.”
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