U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) has introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, accusing the nation’s top judicial official of turning the Court into what Cohen described as a “political instrument” and violating his constitutional oath through a series of rulings and administrative decisions.
Filed as H.Res.1309 on May 21, Cohen’s measure lays out six articles of impeachment against Roberts.
The impeachment effort against Roberts was filed less than a week after Cohen announced his plan to not seek reelection and retire from Congress following Tennessee’s implementation of a newly redrawn congressional map that he argued was designed to force him from office.
I introduced six Articles of Impeachment against Chief Justice John Roberts for compromising the credibility of the Supreme Court. See my release below. https://t.co/DBbzBIStPQ
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) May 22, 2026
Cohen’s impeachment resolution against Roberts heavily references the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a 6-3 decision that invalidated Louisiana’s congressional map for relying too heavily on race in drawing district boundaries. The ruling signaled a major shift in how the Court approaches Voting Rights Act protections and racial considerations in redistricting.
In the impeachment articles, Cohen argued the Court’s timing and handling of the Callais decision triggered a nationwide “cascade of mid-decade partisan redistricting.”
He specifically cited Tennessee’s subsequent dismantling of its only “majority-Black” congressional district in Memphis, claiming the Court selectively applied legal doctrines in ways that favored Republicans.
“The asymmetrical application of the Purcell principle in a way that benefits Republicans demonstrates the Chief Justice’s inability to administer the court impartially,” the resolution states.
The articles further accuse Roberts of enabling “minority rule” through decisions such as Rucho v. Common Cause and of empowering wealthy political interests through campaign finance rulings including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.
Another article targets Roberts’ majority opinion in Trump v. United States, which established broad presidential immunity protections. Cohen argued the decision placed former presidents “out of the reach of legislative and judicial authority.”
The resolution also revives ethics concerns involving Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, who worked as a legal recruiter whose clients included firms with cases before the Supreme Court. Cohen alleges Roberts failed to properly recuse himself or adequately disclose related financial relationships.
“The Supreme Court was once a proud and credible institution. Even if one disagreed with a position, there was respect for the analysis, thoroughness, and process,” Cohen said in a statement.
“Under Chief Justice Roberts stewardship, it is now understood as biased: with decisions designed to benefit Republicans at the expense of representative government, seemingly contradictory and unexplained orders, and a pattern of ethical breaches that raises questions about the role of the wealthy,” the congressman added.
No Supreme Court justice has ever been removed through impeachment, though Associate Justice Samuel Chase was impeached by the House in 1804 and later acquitted by the Senate.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Rep Steve Cohen” by Rep. Steve Cohen and “Chief Justice John Roberts” is by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
