A judiciary that values "judicial independence" must respect "legislative independence"
We are oft-told that unless either the Judicial or Executive Branches is a party to that particular lawsuit, lawmakers and Presidents and state Governors should not attempt to tell the Judicial Branch how they should rule in a specific instance. This concept is usually called "judicial independence" and its justifications include the fact the judiciary operates as a separate and co-equal branch of government.
Justice Roberts recently criticized calls to impeach a trial court judge in Washington, D.C., i.e., District Court, James Boasberg,for, inter alia, his attempt to control the precise and detailed operations of the executive branch (including an order to turn around planes put in flight by the Executive Branch). Indeed, this unconstitutional overreach was the subject of a recent congressional hearing. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ07UCK7AXk.)
Justice Roberts responded to these calls for impeachment by stating the obvious, namely, that impeachment of a judge or justice is not the primary method to correct improper rulings, this being appellate review. (See https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-federal-judges-impeachment-29da1153a9f82106748098a6606fec39.)
Though Justice Roberts was correct in this respect, his comments were entirely wrong and utterly misguided in a broader sense. Simply put, it is not proper for the Judicial Branch to tell the Legislative Branch how it may utilize the power of impeachment.
This legislative power to impeach is found in Article I, Section Two, of the United States Constitution:
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
If the judiciary should not be told or pressured as to how to rule on a specific issue or case, it follows that likewise the legislature should not be lectured as to how to exercise its own power, and, in particular, how to decide whether to impeach someone. After all, if the judiciary is a separate, independent, and co-equal branch of government, so is the legislature.
Indeed, if the President is impeached by the House of Representatives, then our Constitution states the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. But this does not occur if it is a judge or justice who is impeached, and the Chief Justice therefore does not preside. This indicates that in the case of impeachment of other persons, including judicial officers, impeachment proceeds without the participation of the Chief Justice or other members of the judiciary.
