(NewsGlobal.com)- A petition circulating online is calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be removed from his position — and it’s already garnered more than 1 million signatures.
The petition is posted on the website MoveOn, which is a public advocacy organization. Its title is “Impeach Justice Clarence Thomas.” The main description of the petition, which was originally posted back in May, cites his role in overturning the landmark case Roe v. Wade as the main reason that he needs to be removed.
It reads:
“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — who sided with the majority on overturning Roe — made it clear what’s next: to overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights.”
While Thomas did not pen the majority opinion in the case — a draft of which was leaked in May — he did take aim at other cases that used the Roe case as the basis for other protections. He said rulings at the Supreme Court on same-sex relationships and marriage, and the right to contraception, “were demonstrably erroneous decisions.”
He wrote:
“Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”
Other things that the petition cited as reasons why Thomas needs to be removed from the Supreme Court include the role that his wife, Ginni Thomas, had in trying to encourage members of former President Donald Trump’s administration to continue challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Thomas was also the only Supreme Court justice to dissent in the high court’s decision to allow documents related to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, to be released to the House committee investigating the day.
As the online petition states of Thomas:
“He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife’s coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court. He must resign — or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach.”
This is another petition that is being circulated to have Thomas removed from his post. Students at George Washington University created a similar petition to make sure that Thomas doesn’t teach at their university in Washington, D.C., any longer.
The school said that they don’t have any plans to stop allowing Thomas to be an adjunct professor in their law school. Officials have said Thomas hasn’t violated any policies the school has related to academic freedom.
In a letter sent to students, school officials wrote:
“Just as we affirm our commitment to academic freedom, we affirm the right of all members of our community to voice their opinions and contribute to the critical discussion that is foundational to our academic mission.”
Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. The only way they can be removed from their position is if an impeachment case is brought against them.
Just like the process for a president, the House of Representative must bring impeachment articles against a justice, then the Senate must vote to remove the justice from office.
Only one justice has been impeached in history — Samuel Chase back in 1805. The Senate acquitted him in the trial, though.
