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impeachment
If Dems Retake Congress, Platner Says 'Compelling Case' Exists for Impeaching 'At Least Two' Supreme Court Justices
"We need to elect people to the Senate who want to wield power like that," the Maine Democratic candidate said.
Apr 08, 2026
US Senate hopeful Graham Platner wants Democrats to "deal with" the Supreme Court if they retake power in November and launch oversight and possible impeachments to remove justices from office.
Amid President Donald Trump's historic unpopularity, Democrats are heavily favored to retake the House of Representatives and have gained momentum in the Senate, where Platner's bid to unseat five-term incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) could prove decisive.
But the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority has the potential to effectively veto any significant actions a future Democratic Congress or president may seek to take, despite increasing doubts among the American public about its legitimacy and impartiality.
Its image as an independent arbiter of justice has come under further scrutiny as multiple justices have been embroiled in corruption scandals. This is where Platner believes Democrats could have options.
"There is structural power in the Senate to deal with the Supreme Court," the 41-year-old Marine-turned-oyster farmer told a crowd of supporters during an event this weekend.
He said that if Democrats get a majority, "at that point, I very much think that we need to be exercising ethics oversight over the court."
Unlike lower court judges, who must comply with a binding ethics code by avoiding partisan campaigning, disclosing conflicts of interest, and recusing themselves in cases where impartiality may be called into question, Supreme Court justices do not have to adhere to these rules.
Although the Supreme Court did adopt an ethics code for the first time in 2023, it is voluntary, and legal groups like the New York City Bar have described it as unenforceable and far short of what is necessary.
Platner said that "if we held Supreme Court justices to the same standards that we held federal judges, there is a compelling case for the impeachment and removal of at least two."
While he did not specify which two justices he believed could be impeached, it is highly likely that he was referring to Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the furthest right justices, whom he has said have helped transform the court into a "political action wing... of conservatism."
In 2023, ProPublica published an investigation exposing that Thomas had, for years, accepted gifts from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, including trips on his private jet and superyacht, as well as $6,000-per-month tuition for his grandnephew. None of these were reported on the justice's ethics disclosures.
It was also revealed that his wife, Ginni Thomas, was heavily involved with right-wing activist groups with business before the Supreme Court, including those that pushed discredited voter fraud claims to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 election.
Alito, meanwhile, was revealed to have taken a luxury fishing trip to Alaska with the billionaire hedge fund tycoon Paul Singer, who was directly involved or had financial ties to several entities with business before the court, including a right-wing pro-business group that was pushing to have the court block then-President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness policy.
The justice has also been accused of expressing support for Christian nationalism after a flag was seen flying outside his residence that appeared to express solidarity with the movement and with those who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. A documentarian has also published recordings of the justice speaking about how America must be returned to a "place of Godliness."
Some Democrats have also raised the possibility of impeaching Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of lying during his confirmation hearings in 2018 when he was faced with allegations of sexual assault from a former classmate.
Right-wing control of the Supreme Court over the past decade has fundamentally altered the American political landscape by rolling back advancements to reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, gutting the Voting Rights Act, and hindering environmental regulation.
And as Trump has expressed open contempt for constitutional limits on his power, the court has often indulged him, siding with his administration more than 80% of the time in emergency docket rulings during his second term while granting him broad "immunity" from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.
In addition to impeaching justices, Platner has called for Congress to expand the Supreme Court's size the next time a Democrat is in the White House, which can be done with a simple majority vote provided the filibuster is suspended.
"But to make that happen," Platner said, "we need to elect people to the Senate who want to wield power like that, who understand that power matters, that it's real and you can use it."
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Dems Say Iran Ceasefire Doesn't Change Fact That 'Unstable, Unhinged, and Unfit' Trump Must Go
"Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "We are playing with the brink."
Apr 08, 2026
US President Donald Trump's whiplash-inducing announcement late Tuesday of a two-week ceasefire with Iran did nothing to diminish calls for his removal from office, with Democratic lawmakers arguing that the president's genocidal threat earlier in the day—and his decision to launch the illegal war in the first place—cannot be walked back.
"The president has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in a statement after the deal was announced. "He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor congressional authorization—which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any."
"Each day this goes on, the risk and criminality of these actions escalate for our nation and the world," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer... Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), one of two Iranian Americans in Congress, said while she was "momentarily relieved" by news of the ceasefire, "this doesn't change anything."
"Trump threatened genocide and war crimes against Iranians this morning," Ansari wrote. "His statements that 'a whole civilization will die' and that he’ll take Iran 'back to the stone ages' confirm that he is mentally unstable, unhinged, and unfit for office or any position of authority."
Ansari called for the removal of both Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, the administration's leading cheerleader for the war. The Arizona Democrat said earlier this week that she would soon introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth for "repeated war crimes" in Iran, including the deadly bombing of an elementary school on the first day of the war.
"Thousands of civilians have been tragically killed across the region, American servicemembers have died and suffered unnecessarily, and millions are displaced from Lebanon to the Gulf," Ansari said Tuesday. "Trump and Pete Hegseth have already committed explicit war crimes by bombing schools, hospitals, bridges, and water desalination plants... Whether through impeachment or by invoking the 25th Amendment, it is far past time Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are removed from office."
Instead of leaking to the press that he was opposed to the war, the @VP should convene the cabinet immediately to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Trump from office.
This is the time for leadership, and we will remember it when he runs for president. https://t.co/lAWjWyb7T1
— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) April 7, 2026
According to a tally by Axios, at least 85 House Democrats have called for Trump's removal via the 25th Amendment, which gives the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet—or a majority of a body established by Congress—the ability to declare the president unable to perform his duties and remove him from office.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) announced Tuesday that he filed new articles of impeachment against Trump after the president's threat to wipe out the "whole civilization" of Iran.
"He's becoming more unstable by the day. His profane and sacrilegious Easter Sunday and subsequent threats, including ‘a whole civilization will die’ and ‘open the Strait…or you’ll be living in hell,’ not only foreshadow war crimes, but put our security at risk," Larson said in a statement. “People across my district know he is unfit to lead and are calling for impeachment. While Republicans in the majority have so far failed to uphold their constitutional responsibility to initiate impeachment proceedings, that does not absolve others of their duty."
The House and Senate, both controlled by a Republican Party whose ranks are packed with Trump sycophants unwilling to restrain him, are currently on spring recess and aren't scheduled to return to Washington until next week.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for both chambers to reconvene immediately to "stop this war and remove Donald Trump."
"I’m glad there is a reported ceasefire deal with Iran. But we shouldn’t be in this illegal war in the first place," said Markey. "And Donald Trump can’t simply threaten war crimes with impunity."
Democratic leaders, who have faced backlash for slowwalking a new vote on a resolution aimed at forcing an end to the Iran war, vowed to move ahead with a War Powers vote when lawmakers return from recess.
"We need a permanent end to Donald Trump's reckless war of choice, which is why House Democrats have demanded that Speaker Mike Johnson immediately reconvene the House back into session so we can move a War Powers Resolution that will end this conflict permanently," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in an appearance on CNN late Tuesday.
"Assuming it doesn't happen this week, we'll go back into session next week and we will present a War Powers Resolution as soon as it becomes available to us to do so as a matter of privilege on the House floor," said Jeffries. "All we need are a handful of Republicans to join us."
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Iranian American Lawmaker Announces Effort to Impeach Hegseth for 'Repeated War Crimes'
Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari called the Pentagon secretary "a chief enabler of this illegal war" and accused him of repeatedly violating his oath of office.
Apr 07, 2026
US Rep. Yassamin Ansari, the lone Iranian American Democrat in Congress, said on Monday that she will soon introduce articles of impeachment against Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, the most prominent cheerleader of President Donald Trump's illegal war on Iran.
In a statement, Ansari (Ariz.) said that Hegseth has "repeatedly" violated his oath of office and his duty to the Constitution. The Democratic lawmaker, who said she would formally introduce the impeachment articles next week, pointed to Hegseth's "reckless endangerment of US servicemembers and repeated war crimes, including bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran."
Ansari, who was born in Seattle to parents who fled Iran following the 1979 revolution, warned that Trump's "deranged statements" and "apocalyptic" threats to obliterate Iranian bridges and power plants as soon as Tuesday night "are further entrenching our country and our world in another devastating, never-ending war."
"He’s threatening war crimes that violate US law and the Geneva Convention, on top of illegal actions and atrocities already committed at his direction–including violence that has destroyed schools, hospitals, and critical civilian infrastructure," said Ansari. "Republicans must join us in calling on the president to end this suicidal war before it is too late. So much is at stake, and those who continue to follow him blindly will have blood on their hands as well."
"As the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled this regime, and as an American congresswoman who swore an oath to the United States Constitution, I know that this cannot go on," Ansari continued. "The 25th Amendment exists for a reason; his Cabinet should use it. The fate of US troops, the Iranian people, and the very foundation of our global system are at stake."
In a video posted to social media, Ansari said that "as a chief enabler of this illegal war, Pete Hegseth is responsible for directing this insane military action against Iran."
I’m introducing Articles of Impeachment against Pete Hegseth. Here’s why. pic.twitter.com/mMblG7tA7s
— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) April 7, 2026
Hegseth has been the foremost public advocate of Trump's war, praising the "lethality" of the American military and the "death and destruction" it is raining down on Iran, where US-Israeli attacks have killed around 2,000 people—including hundreds of children—and destroyed tens of thousands of civilian structures, from residential buildings to universities to medical facilities.
The Pentagon secretary has also derided what he's called "stupid rules of engagement" that constrain US servicemembers, gutted offices tasked with working to limit civilian casualties in war, and fired uniformed lawyers he's dismissed as "roadblocks" in the way of "maximum lethality."
Experts say those moves have made atrocities such as the one the US military committed on the first day of the war—the bombing of an elementary school in southern Iran—more likely. Human rights organizations and international legal scholars have said the attack should be investigated as a war crime.
Hegseth also said last month that "no quarter" would be given to "our enemies" in Iran, a statement indicating that surrendering combatants would be executed rather than taken prisoner. The declaration itself was seen as a clear violation of international law.
"Hegseth is making people less safe—and it’s time for him to go," the advocacy group Win Without War said last month in its own call for the Pentagon secretary's impeachment and removal.
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