12-08-2023, 08:31 PM
Geezum crow! I did not refer merely to "any judge" - I specifically and explicitly referred to "any judge who any aspirations to higher judicial position" - (i.e., clearly and obviously not SCOTUS judges, since there are no higher judicial positions to which they can aspire).
You elide and ignore the primary thrust of what I say, only to hyper-focus on the parenthetical asides - e.g., " (not to mention the aspiration of merely keeping the position he already has)". Speaking of which:
In today's increasingly strident, inflammatory, and hysterical political environment, I am not at all sure that lower court judges wouldn't have a greater risk of impeachment if they dared to "seriously questio or challeng (let alone actually overtur) a U.S. presidential election". And as far as "the separation of powers and the notion of an independent judiciary" goes, if any judge(s) ever did dare to venture into that territory, then why wouldn't Congress (depending on its partisan composition at the time, and on whom any such rulings favored) regard impeachment and removal as an instance of "turnabout is fair play"? Separation of powers and judicial "independence" cuts both ways, after all.
But however high or low the risk might be (or might be becoming), there's one surefire way to avoid it altogether: you can't be impeached (or even just thwarted in your ambitions for career advancement) for a ruling that wasn't made in a case that wasn't heard.
Connect With Us