BROOKVILLE — State Rep. Cris Dush has introduced legislation seeking impeachment of four Democrats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court who favored the remapping of the state’s congressional districts.
“We released the resolutions this morning,” Dush said from his district office in Brookville.
They are House Resolutions 766 (Justice David N. Wecht), 767 (Justice Debra McCloskey Todd), 768 (Justice Christine L. Donohue) and 769 (Justice Kevin M. Dougherty).
Each are accused of misbehavior in office. Resolutions 766 and 767 as posted late this morning on the General Assembly’s website showed 11 co-sponsors, all Republicans.
“The purpose of the impeachment articles are to protect the rule of law,” Dush has said. “If we allow either of the three branches to start operating outside of the rule of law, we go down a role that history has shown us would lead to a world we do not want to live in.”
They and fellow Democratic Justice Max Baer voted to declare the 2011 Congressional reapportionment map to be unconstitutional, though Baer did not join his colleagues in the subsequent decision to remap the districts.
Dush also circulated a memorandum regarding the possible impeachment of Baer, but said today that there is no basis for pursuing his impeachment.
“He didn’t actually sit down and take the pen from the Legislature,” Dush said. “When (the other Democratic justices) overstepped and started writing law, he didn’t do that.”
Dush specially targeted Wecht, an Allegheny County jurist who was critical of the gerrymandered nature of the 2011 map during his 2015 campaign for the state’s high court.
“For him to do that and not recuse himself, he has himself in a sticky situation right now,” Dush said.
On Monday the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal of that decision as brought to the high court by state House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, and Senate President Pro Tem Joseph Scarnati, R-Brockway.
“We continue to believe that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overstepped its authority in an unprecedented fashion when it legislated from the bench,” Turzai said today. “Nonetheless, we respect the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and are prepared to move on to other issues of importance to the people of Pennsylvania.”
