We are watching Democrats increasingly enact liberal policies in imperviously red states with Republican supermajorities. It’s not just that weak Republicans provide openings for Democrats to seize political opportunities, but those weak Republican governors appoint liberal judges, who in turn ratify left-wing policies.
However, there is a check on lawless judges that our founders believed was a deterrent strong enough to prevent a corrupt judiciary from redefining the Constitution. Why is impeachment of judges not being used regularly in deep-red states?
Utah is the new Virginia.
On February 20, 2026, the Utah Supreme Court affirmed a district court opinion essentially stripping the legislature of its authority to draw maps and mandating the use of a map drawn by left-wing groups, which will create a guaranteed Democrat House seat in urban Salt Lake City. This decision is in the news this month because Judge Diana Hagen, one of the justices who overruled the legislature, is under investigation for meeting with and allegedly having a romantic relationship with one of the lead attorneys for those challenging the legislative map.
As we watch hopelessly with numerous federal judges legislating from the bench at the national level, the Utah situation is completely redressable. Whereas Republicans will never garner a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate to remove an impeached federal judge, Utah Republicans enjoy a 22-6 majority in the state Senate. It should be a no-brainer for Hagen and her compatriots to get the boot from the very people they are usurping.
Although Republicans wield a 61-14 majority in the state House, Rep. Trevor Lee (R), a supporter of impeachment, divulged on my podcast that they probably have no more than 30-40 votes in support of impeachment and only a handful of conservatives who would convict Hagen in the Senate. These recalcitrant Republicans think a judge needs to rob a bank in order to raise the ire of the legislature, but our founders did not see it that way.
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Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist #81 that the power of impeachment alone would be a “complete security” against judges usurping legislative power and would “remove all apprehensions” of those who feared that judicial review would morph into judicial supremacy.
Justice Joseph Story made it clear that “high crimes and misdemeanors” were political in nature, not just criminal, and included “attempts to subvert the fundamental laws, and introduce arbitrary power.”
James Wilson, one of the preeminent founders and an original Supreme Court justice who helped draft Article III, clearly articulated this point: “In the United States and in Pennsylvania, impeachments are confined to political characters, to political crimes and misdemeanors, and to political punishments.” That is why the trial is held in a competing branch of government, not in a court with criminal proceedings.
The only reason why impeachment never became a regularly used and effective check on the judiciary is because as quickly as our political system began to operate, we suffered from the rise of political parties. So rather than competing branches of government checking each other, we were divided between parties who inevitably wielded enough authority to block impeachment.
However, by my count, Republicans have the numbers to impeach and remove rogue state judges in 20 states. With judges attempting to usurp legislative authority on transgenderism, abortion, and election law, why are Republicans shying away from impeachment?
One common problem in red states is county and district judges in blue areas who believe in “restorative justice” and release dangerous criminals. In Florida, Leon County Judge Tifanny Baker-Carper released Daniel Spencer — a man previously convicted in a child sex crime sting — on bond before sentencing. While out, Spencer and his wife allegedly abused and murdered Spencer’s 5-year-old stepdaughter, Melissa “Missy” Mogle, in Tallahassee. The case sparked outrage and led to the legislature passing “Missy’s Law,” a bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on March 31, 2026, which restricts judges’ discretion in releasing certain sex offenders or violent felons pending sentencing.
However, the governor chided the legislative leadership for not going a step farther. “You have the power, and you have sufficient numbers in your chamber, to impeach this judge, Tiffany Baker-Carper,” observed DeSantis. “Until you start holding these judges accountable, they are going to continue to find ways to benefit the criminal element.”
Why is DeSantis the only one pushing to impeach such subversive judges when they exist in every red state?
As we have painfully learned from Virginia this week — a state where Republicans wielded supermajorities just a decade ago
— political power is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. If you give Democrats a foothold in your red state, it won’t be red for much longer. Utah, with its new, judicially created Democrat congressional seat, is the new Virginia.
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