The Republicans are "coming for the judges," an ex-prosecutor said.
In a statement dated Thursday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance weighed in on efforts by world's richest man Elon Musk and Republican lawmakers to tamp down the power of the judicial branch.
In response to Senator Mike Lee's statement, "Corrupt judges should be impeached and removed," Vance said, "Utah Senator Mike Lee knows better than this, which means that it’s about politics and not about the law. Specifically, it’s about letting politics trump the rule of law, the principle that there are laws that everyone, including the government, must follow. Apparently, the senator is no longer a fan."
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Going even further, Vance accused Lee of engaging in a "dangerous campaign to undermine the rule of law."
"Calling for judges to be impeached just because you don’t like their decisions is nothing short of anti-constitutional. Judicial review, the power of the courts to declare laws passed by Congress or actions taken by the president unconstitutional, is a deep-seated part of our rule of law system," she wrote. "A president who takes actions that violate the Constitution and our laws must be held in check by the judiciary. Suggesting judges should be impeached for fulfilling that duty is to throw away the Constitution itself."
Vance went on to talk about Musk's addition to the conversation on judges.
"And isn’t that what this is really about? The judiciary is one of the few democratic institutions left that can interfere with the plan to place all the reins of power in the hands of the president. So when Mike Lee calls for judges to be impeached and Elon Musk responds that 'it is the only way,' we know where this is headed," she said. "It seems like an extreme example. But they are coming for the judges. And not just the judges. Already they have come for federal employees, transgender people, immigrants, lawyers, the press, epidemiologists, scientists, and more."