DeFazio loses his mind: getting smacked by independent expenditures, wants to impeach Chief Justice Roberts.

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DeFazio talks about impeaching Chief Justice John Roberts

Published: Friday, October 22, 2010, 5:44 PM

Updated: Friday, October 22, 2010, 6:07 PM

Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
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Rep. Peter DeFazio

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., is getting really mad at the independent advertising campaign that has been launched against his reelection. And now he says he is "investigating" launching an impeachment effort against Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court.

It was under Roberts' leadership that the court, by a 5-4 vote, passed the Citizens United decision that opened the door to expanded corporate participation in campaign advertising.

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DeFazio has said the decision helped allow a New York hedge fund manager to pour $300,000 into the attack ads, without having to reveal his identity until a required Federal Election Commission filing last week.

At any rate, The Huffington Post reported that DeFazio is now raising the idea of impeachment.

"I mean, the Supreme Court has done a tremendous disservice to the United States of America," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. "They have done more to undermine our democracy with their Citizens United decision than all of the Republican operatives in the world in this campaign. They've opened the floodgates, and personally, I'm investigating articles of impeachment against Justice Roberts for perjuring during his Senate hearings, where he said he wouldn't be a judicial activist, and he wouldn't overturn precedents."

As the Huffington Post noted, efforts to impeach Supreme Court justices rarely go anywhere. The last justice to face impeachment hearings was Samuel Chase in 1803, and he was acquitted by the Senate.

Carla Axtman at Blue Oregon, which hasn't had much bad to say about Democrats during this fall campaign, says Citizens United is an "awful ruling. But I'm not sure how whacking at impeachment on Roberts does anything but tag DeFazio with a 'crazy' label."

Related topics: blue oregon, chief justice john roberts, citizens united, huffington post, peter defazio, u.s. house

HT Orbusmax.

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