Pennsylvania Supreme Court shuts down impeachment of woke prosecutor

By 
 September 27, 2024

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has killed off a Republican effort to impeach Philadelphia's woke, George Soros-funded prosecutor, Larry Krasner.

The state's Democrat-controlled top court ruled that state lawmakers improperly impeached Krasner for mishandling crime in the city.

Supreme Court blocks impeachment

Republicans attempted to impeach Krasner across two different legislative sessions, which rendered the charges "null and void." Chief Justice Debra Todd wrote the opinion for the court, which ruled 3-1. Three justices did not weigh in on the case, and the lone dissenter was a Republican.

"Accordingly, given these explicit constitutional constraints, we conclude that, when the House exercises its power of impeachment during one session of the General Assembly via the passage of articles of impeachment, trial on those articles must be held by the Senate of that session before it ends,” Chief Justice Debra Todd wrote.

The impeachment never proceeded to the Senate trial stage after Krasner sued.

Krasner won a partial victory last year when a lower court ruled that his conduct did not qualify as "misbehavior in office." On the other hand, the lower court sided with the Republicans on other grounds, finding the impeachment could continue into a second legislative session, and finding Krasner was not immune to impeachment as a local official.

Woke prosecutor reacts

The leftist prosecutor, who is elected, took a victory lap, condemning the impeachment as an "audacious and undemocratic act."

The impeachment passed the state House along party lines. Republicans have since lost the majority. State Rep. Craig Williams, R-Delaware, the lead impeachment manager, said the court dodged the substance of the case.

"It is important to note the court did not answer if the allegations of misbehavior in office met the constitutional standard for impeachment and conviction for the same," Williams said in a statement. "Those questions must be resolved by the Supreme Court. The rule of law and the public's confidence in the criminal justice system requires it."

Krasner garnered attention as part of a wave of leftist city prosecutors pushing a soft-on-crime approach. Like many Democratic cities, Philadelphia had a surge in murders in 2020 that has since eased, but crime remains elevated.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson