Impeachments and forced removals from office emerge as partisan weapons in states

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz attends her first hearing as a justice, Sept. 7, 2023, in Madison, Wis. Republican legislative leaders have threatened to impeach Protasiewicz, who won her seat by more than 10 points earlier this year in …WASHINGTON — 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.

It’s not just impeachment. 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. “Since the founding of our state in 1848, no state Legislature has even introduced articles of impeachment in order to nullify a vote by the people of Wisconsin to gain partisan advantage,” the state’s Democratic Party chair, Ben Wikler, said last month. “It’s a thought that for most of our state’s history has been unthinkable.”

In Pennsylvania, Republicans already voted to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner over his progressive criminal justice policies when they controlled the state House in 2022, before it flipped to Democratic control. The impeachment trial is indefinitely stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate while Pennsylvania’s highest court considers legal challenges.

The recent impeachment and trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stands in contrast. Paxton, a Republican, had been indicted on securities fraud charges and was the subject of an FBI investigation when he was impeached last spring by the state House of Representatives, which is controlled by his fellow Republicans. The articles of impeachment included bribery and abuse of public trust. He was acquitted last month by the GOP-controlled Senate, where his wife serves.

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