Inquirer: DA Larry Krasner's impeachment trial gets indefinitely postponed by the Pa. Senate

[BumRushDaShow]

DA Larry Krasner’s impeachment trial gets indefinitely postponed by the Pa. Senate

by Ellie Rushing
Published Jan 11, 2023


The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday voted to indefinitely postpone the impeachment trial of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and the future of the effort to remove the progressive prosecutor is now unclear.

The trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 18 after the Republican-led House voted largely along party lines last fall to impeach Krasner, a Democrat, for what they called his dereliction of duty. But after a Commonwealth Court decision last month to dismiss the articles of impeachment as legally insufficient, the future of the trial — and the timeline for when, or even if, it resumes — remains uncertain.

The postponement, which the Senate unanimously approved, comes after the Commonwealth Court issued an order dismissing the seven articles of impeachment against Krasner on Dec. 30, saying none met the required legal standard of “misbehavior in office.”

Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler said the articles did not sufficiently demonstrate that Krasner had failed to perform his duties or acted with an improper or corrupt motive, a standard required under the state constitution to impeach a public official.

The court has not yet released an opinion explaining the reasoning behind the dismissal. A timeline for that remains unclear.

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https://www.inquirer.com/news/larry-krasner-impeachment-trial-postponed-pa-senate-20230111.html

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Buncha GOP loons are going to fight to the death. Hopefully this is the end of that and any appeal will fail.

[FakeNoose]

1. It was all politically motivated from the get-go

The Commonwealth Court Judge basically threw the entire case out, since there was no evidence of "dereliction of duty" or "misbehavior in office." It's a high bar that's set in our Constitution that is very stingy in allowing the impeachment of elected officials. The crazy Repukes in PA Senate only know one game, and it's nasty revenge-politics.

Thank you Judge Ellen Ceisler for telling the Senate Repukes to dismiss this impeachment proceeding.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I heard today that she published her full opinion

Full opinion here (PDF) - https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/563MD22_1-12-23.pdf?cb=1

Pa. Commonwealth Court releases opinion calling impeachment articles against DA Larry Krasner legally insufficient

by Chris Palmer
Updated Jan 12, 2023

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court said Thursday that the state House’s decision to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner appeared largely based on disagreements about how he was running his office and said that was “not enough to create a constitutionally sound basis for impeaching and removing” the city’s top prosecutor.

In a majority opinion released Thursday afternoon, Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler added that other allegations of wrongdoing approved by the Republican-controlled House also did not meet the required legal standard of “misbehavior in office” — either because the accusations lacked specificity or were grounds for the courts, not the legislature, to assess.

“None of the Amended Articles viably allege that [Krasner] has acted in a manner that constitutes any ‘misbehavior in office,’” Ceisler wrote.

The release of the opinion came a day after the state Senate voted to indefinitely postpone Krasner’s impeachment trial, which had been scheduled to begin Jan. 18. The opinion added some detail to an order the court had issued last month declaring the articles of impeachment against Krasner legally insufficient. That order caused the Senate to put its trial of Krasner on hold.

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https://www.inquirer.com/news/philly-da-larry-krasner-impeachment-commonwealth-court-20230112.html

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