It appears that the grant of de novo review might be close to a slam dunk as being held unconstitutional based on reading Birch's opinion on the 11th circuit. I don't know enough to have my own opinion, but in the face of that, the impeachment thing is going nowhere. Well, it was going nowhere anyway. Delay is just throwing red meat at the wolves. The ethics charges against Delay appear to be serious based on my reading of a WSJ editorial blasting Delay on the matter. I suspect he is going the way of Newt, and in the not too distant future. Thank heavens he is not Speaker, or he really would reap substantial dividends for the Dems.
The impeachment issue is an idle threat, and doesn't address the real problem anyway. The problem with the judiciary is far deeper than one or two or twelve or twenty judges. Until this specific case, there was not much interest in doing something about it. There still might not be much interest. See post 271. The reason Congress should assert itself has to do with the judiciary's decision to tell COngress to pound sand on the de novo hearing requirement but also on the subpeona. Judge Greer and federal judges (including Birch) told Congress that the legislative branch has no powers other than what the judicial branch grants it. THat position is a natural outgrowth of the last thirty years of judicial activism.
The ethics charges against DeLay are a red herring and merely personalizes the issue. Whether DeLay is in Congress or not does not change the nature of the problem between the legislative and judicial branches.
The legislature can impeach for any reason it jolly well pleases. They have no dog on the courts' side of the fight.