Missouri Republicans threaten to impeach entire state Supreme Court

Republicans in the Missouri legislature are now threatening to impeach all of the state Supreme Court Justices if they hold Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt of court.

Ahead of the state Supreme Court's hearing on Thursday over Hoskins' order to defy its ruling against changes to the electoral maps, a group of GOP lawmakers published a letter threatening the justices, Fox2NOW reported.

On Wednesday night, 14 members of the Missouri General Assembly signed a letter arguing that Hoskins shouldn't be held in contempt for violating his order because doing so would violate the separation of powers. If the justices do hold Hoskins in contempt, the GOP officials said they'd impeach the judges.

The letter claims, "the facts are not in dispute" over the court's Sept. 3 ruling.

The Republicans issuing the threat told Chief Justice W. Brent Powell, “Should Secretary of Hoskins be held in contempt, we will petition the Speaker of the House and legislative leadership to begin impeachment proceedings against the responsible members of this Court for willful neglect of duty, incompetency and misconduct under Article VII, Sections 1 and 2 of the Missouri Constitution."

The U.S. Supreme Court already stepped in earlier this week to say it would not approve a temporary restraining order that would allow the GOP's maps to be used. Shortly before the Hoskins’ contempt hearing, the U.S. Supreme Court issued another ruling in which the justices rejected the Republican-backed maps intended to eliminate the Democratic district.

Democrats in the state responded to the GOP threat by saying that the letter was judicial tampering, a Class D felony, and that they fully intend to take those Republicans to court.

“Missourians forcefully responded to Republicans’ attempted power grabs last month by rejecting Amendments 4 and 5. They will react even worse to the GOP openly intimidating the Supreme Court as it considers whether the state’s highest election official abused his authority in defiance of the law," the Democrats said in a statement.

“This is how Democracies collapse,” said House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas City. “Corrupt officials defy the courts; the courts act to hold them responsible; corrupt officials eliminate the courts.”

The chief justice issued an ominous threat that Hoskins not leave town until they decided whether he'd be held in contempt of court.

Kansas City Star editorial board member Toriano Porter wrote on Wednesday that the state has fully fallen into a "constitutional crisis."