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.

  • @Wrench
    42•1 year ago

    Yep. Republicans forced a groundless recall vote on Newsom that cost the state $200m. Party of fiscal responsibility my ass.

    • Unaware7013
      19•1 year ago

      They’re only ‘fiscally responsible’ when they’re not in charge and someone wants to spend money on something other than the MIC and their donors. When they’re in charge, anything for killing people and making rich people even richer is somehow ‘fiscally responsible’ then.