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Is there a word for officially removing a judge? "Impeach" does not seem correct unless the judicial position is an elected one.

To much derision, an American politician recently stated an opinion of a judge: "He should be disrobed." That was a comical misuse. Perhaps "disrobed" was used as analogous to a priest being "defrocked".

Is there a word for this? Or, must we circumlocute?

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    Impeach is, in fact, the correct term in the US, but this will vary by country. Which country are you asking about?
    – alphabet
    Commented Feb 27 at 2:30
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    Yes, Federal judges can be impeached (through Congress). The more mundane expression is: remove from the bench or office.
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:13
  • If you are looking for a single word that will cover all the possible ways of removing judges, throughout the English-speaking world, you probably won't find it. In discussing such matters, one will usually need to either use the jurisdiction-specific term for the specific procedure that one has in mind, or just, as Lambie suggested, say vaguely remove from the bench/office.
    – jsw29
    Commented Feb 27 at 21:35

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The problem with using "impeach" is not that the judicial position must be an elected one; as has been pointed out, holders of positions to which one is appointed (such as federal judges or cabinet secretaries) can also be impeached.

The reason "impeach" does not work is that being impeached is like being indicted: while it may result in a trial, it does not guarantee either conviction or the subsequent penalty.

As the example of Donald Trump shows, one may be impeached more than once, and yet still not be removed from office. It is therefore necessary to use a phrase, although one has a number of options depending on how emphatic or dramatic one wants to be (e.g., "he should resign his position", "he should be removed from office", "he should be thrown off the bench"; etc.)

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    – Community Bot
    Commented Feb 27 at 21:51
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The term you're looking for is "remove from office" or "remove from the bench." While "impeach" is commonly associated with removing officials from office, including judges, it's not exclusively reserved for elected positions. In the United States, federal judges can be impeached and removed from office for "high crimes and misdemeanors" by the House of Representatives and then tried by the Senate. In some jurisdictions, the process may be different, but "impeachment" is still the term used for the removal of judges from office. So, while "impeach" may seem politically charged or associated with elected positions, it is indeed the correct term for the removal of judges in many contexts.

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    @Lambie maybe the downvoter suspected something fishy (see comments about AI on ELL)?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Feb 28 at 0:35
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    @Mari-LouA Oh dear, this was BEFORE I realized all zzz's answers are AI/
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 28 at 1:18

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