Lawmakers Call for Impeachment, Judicial Reform
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2015
Lawmakers Call for Impeachment, Judicial Reform
OKLAHOMA CITY – Several state GOP lawmakers today called for judicial reform and for the impeachment of seven state Supreme Court justices who made a political ruling to ban a Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The lawmakers include state Reps. Kevin Calvey (R-OKC), Casey Murdock (R-Felt), Lewis Moore (R-Edmond), Dan Fisher (R-Yukon), George Faught (R-Muskogee), Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore), Sally Kern (R-OKC), Sean Roberts (R-Hominy), Mark McBride (R-Moore) and David Derby (R-Owasso).
“Our state Supreme Court is playing politics by issuing rulings contrary to the Constitution, and contrary to the will of the clear majority of Oklahoma voters,” Calvey said. “These Supreme Court justices are nothing more than politicians in black robes, masquerading as objective jurists. This ruling is the Court engaging in judicial bullying of the people of Oklahoma, pure and simple. It is time that the people chose jurists, rather than letting a tiny special interest group of lawyers at the Oklahoma Bar Association dictate who can and can’t be a judge.”
Calvey, himself an attorney, said the ruling, like others made by the state Supreme Court, has no basis in law.
“The Ten Commandments have undeniable historical significance as a foundation for U.S. law. The United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., itself depicts the Ten Commandments. To ban the Ten Commandments from the seat of our state’s government shows that the court is imposing its own elitist political prejudices on the people.”
Calvey cited other cases as evidence of the court’s liberal elitist bias, most notably Nova Health Systems v. Pruitt, 292 P.3d 28, in which the state Supreme Court struck down Oklahoma’s requirement that a mother seeking an abortion be told of her right to view an ultrasound of her unborn child.
“The state Supreme Court’s ultrasound ruling allows predatory abortionists like Dr. Numeshkumar Patel to coerce and mislead women into having abortions,” Calvey said. “Many such women suffer trauma later when they discover the truth about their baby’s development, that unscrupulous doctors like Patel failed to tell them. The state Supreme Court allows these women to be victimized by unregulated abortionists like Patel.”
Patel faces an upcoming felony trial for fraudulently misleading his patients.
Calvey noted that the state Supreme Court has routinely struck down popular pro-life laws, even those which merely regulate how the abortion procedure is done without inhibiting the ability to obtain an abortion.
Calvey criticized the false application of the term “judicial independence” in support of the state Supreme Court’s actions.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the term ‘judicial independence’ has become a liberal code phrase for ‘undemocratic liberal dictatorial powers.’ It is sad that the once-worthy concept of ‘judicial independence’ has been perverted by those engaging in politics from the bench,” Calvey said.
The lawmakers indicated they would support Articles of Impeachment against the seven justices next legislative session. They also indicated they supported efforts to reduce the influence of the Oklahoma Bar Association on the selection of jurists.
###