[Vision2020] impeachment of GW

James Reynolds chapandmaize at hotmail.com
Tue Feb 21 20:14:02 PST 2006


I did a little looking at the impeachment question. There is no doubt that 
president Bush is impeachable it would only take action by congress to make 
it so. In fact his entire empire could be impeached.

50%+ of Americans think Bush ought to be impeached. In contrast only 36% 
thought Clinton should have been. It seems many of us want to see him 
gone.....long gone.

It does not have to be an indictable offense. I cut a little from this paper 
by Jason Vicente to demonstrate the point that Bush should be removed from 
office as soon as possible before he deoes any worse damage to our country.

If congress won't move on it then I think it is time for us to start 
planning our revolution. The best revolution would be to all take a month 
off and go to DC and talk with the little man. A little tar a few feathers 
and put him on a rail for a ride out of Washington.


IMPEACHMENT
A Constitutional Primer
by Jason J. Vicente
Executive Summary


Gerhardt's reading
of the historical record is that impeachable offenses
extend beyond indictable offenses.156 In his view, the only
question is what range of nonindictable offenses should be
included with indictable ones under the umbrella of
"impeachable offenses."157 To support his position,
Gerhardt cites the following statement by Hamilton in the
Federalist Papers:
A well constituted court for the trial of
impeachments is an object not more to be desired
than difficult to be obtained in a government
wholly elective. The subjects of its jurisdiction
are those offences which proceed from the
misconduct of public men, or, in other words,
from the abuse or violation of some public
trust. They are of a nature which may with
peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as
they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately
to the society itself.158
In addition to noting the political nature of
impeachable offenses, Gerhardt points out that Justice
Joseph Story interpreted the "high Crimes and Misdemeanors"
clause broadly:
Political offenses are of so various and complex
a character, so utterly incapable of being
defined, or classified, that the task of positive
legislation would be impracticable, if it were
not almost absurd to attempt it.159
>From statements such as those, Gerhardt concludes that
Hamilton and Story understood that "subsequent generations
would have to define on a case-by-case basis the political
crimes serving as contemporary impeachable offenses."160
Conclusion
This study has outlined the history, purpose, and
scope of the impeachment provisions of the U.S.
Constitution. While there is a debate among academic
scholars concerning the range of possible impeachable
offenses, most scholars agree that indictable offenses fall
within the class of impeachable offenses. That is because
there is a fundamental inconsistency, they argue, between
Page 21
a president's oath to faithfully execute the law and his
having himself commited offenses indictable under that law.
But beyond that, the office of the presidency is an
office of trust and honor. The winner of a presidential
election has only a qualified right to enter and hold the
office of the presidency. He cannot assume the office
without taking the constitutional oath. If a president
should thereafter abrogate his oath, Congress has a
responsibility to vindicate the Constitution and the rule
of law it secures.

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