Mr. Impeachment

By David Oscar Markus

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has called for the impeachment of many really good judges, is now asking Congress to impeach Judge Nancy Abudu of the Eleventh Circuit.

Sigh.

If it wasn't so outrageous, it would be comical.

His reason? Before she took the bench, she worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

The Constitution sets a high bar for removing a judge. Treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. In more than two centuries, the House has impeached only fifteen federal judges. The ones actually removed committed real crimes. Bribery. Perjury. Tax fraud. Not "used to work at a place the government now doesn't like."

Judges come from somewhere. Prosecutors. Public defenders. Big firms. Legal aid. Civil rights groups. If a lawyer's prior employer becomes grounds for impeachment, no judge is safe. Today it's the SPLC. Tomorrow it's a firm that represented a company under investigation, or a prosecutor's office with a bad case, or a defender who represented someone awful.

And Abudu isn't the only target. Uthmeier has called for impeaching some of our best judges. Most recently, Miguel de la O. Judges with sterling reputations, dragged into this because someone didn't like a ruling. Absurd.

This is becoming normal, and that's the problem. A judge rules the wrong way, or has the wrong resume, and someone calls for impeachment. It's a threat, and it's meant to be one. Rule against us and we'll come for your job.

Lawyers know better, and lawyers have to say so. An independent judiciary is the thing standing between our clients and the government. We defend it whether or not we agree with a given judge. The alternative is judges who decide cases with one eye on Congress.

Judge Abudu is a wonderful judge -- thoughtful, hard-working, liked by her colleagues.  But she comes from the other side of the aisle of Mr. Impeachment, so he is on the attack.  

Please don't say silent about this. The bar should be loud in its defense of our judiciary.