There's a gratifying amount of Establishment harrumphing in the wake of calls, for example by the American Family Association, for the impeachment of U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker after his single-handed overturning of California's anti-gay marriage Prop. 8. The appalling Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and professor at University of California-Irvine's Law School, describes impeachment as "the gravest threat to judicial independence in American history." (Judge Vaughn Walker Targeted for Impeachment, by Alex Wolens, SF Weekly, August 6, 2010)

And he's right—once you realize that "judicial independence" = "right of judges to impose their policy preferences on everyone else".

In other news, Tom Tancredo's call for Obama's impeachment in the Washington Times (The case for impeachment: Obama has violated his oath of office over immigration, July 22 2010) has been more recently endorsed by the heroic Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce:

Sen. Jon Kyl says that when he asked President Obama to secure the border, Obama’s response was that if he did, it would remove the incentive for Republicans to negotiate on comprehensive immigration reform. Former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo has called the refusal to enforce the law an impeachable offense. Pearce was asked if he agrees.

”Absolutely,” he declares.

Arizona Immigration Law Author: Failure to Enforce Law Impeachable Offense, by Jim Meyers, Newsmax.com, August 5, 2010)

Of course, as our Washington Watcher has pointed out, it was precisely the fact the Obama Administration has unilaterally elected to enforce immigration law selectively that Federal Judge Susan Bolton brazenly cited when she put a temporary hold on parts of Arizona's SB1070. (Has J.D. Hayworth called for her impeachment yet?)

VDARE.COM does not take a position on gay marriage, but we do take a position on judicial legislation—as I predicted in Alien Nation:

When Americans do seize control of their immigration policy again, it will inevitably take the form of an epic clash between the legislative and judicial branches

As I've pointed out, impeachment is the the check/ balance that the constitution has provided against abusive judges and elected officials. It's fundamentally a political act—like a vote of confidence in the British Parliamentary system.

I can tell from email that even some VDARE.COM friends find this a radical notion. My answer: it is a radical notion—but one that is being summoned from the depths, like secession and nullification, by the gathering crisis of America's institutions—a crisis that can be traced, to a considerable degree, to non-assimilable immigration.

You may not have heard much about impeachment before. But who had heard of gay marriage twenty years ago?