Possible method of impeaching dominionists?
dogemperor printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Thu Jan 19, 2006 at 08:02:04 PM EST
I actually saw the following in a response to a recent Raw Story article (on a leaked Justice Department memo in regards to the ongoing scandal about how the NSA may have illegally spied on US nationals with the President's consent and used warantless wiretaps--reportedly, the Justice Department will be defending the President) and, well...it's piqued my interest, to put it mildly.

Namely--at least according to this blogger--it may theoretically be consitutionally possible to have impeachment proceedings begin without the House Judiciary Committee voting for it, specifically, by a state government calling for impeachment.

This may possibly (depending on state constitutions) also be a strategy for dominionists in state governments.  I'm still taking some of this with a grain of salt, mind, but I'm not finding any fatal flaws so far.

Essentially, the blogger in question may have found a loophole in the House rules for impeachment that allow parties besides the House Judiciary Committee to initiate an impeachment proceeding:
The House rules permit state resolutions on Presidential and Vice Presidential impeachments. This approach would bypass the RNC-controlled House Judiciary Committee.

Whilst this approach has apparently never been legally tested (as only two impeachments of a President have ever occured in US history, and there have only been a very few other cases of impeachment of government officials on a Federal level--all of which have been initiated by Congressional committees) the blogger in question does seem to have done his research.  Apparently, per the rules of procedure in the House,
In the  House there are various methods of setting an impeachment inmotion: by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Memberor Delegate (II, 1303; III, 2342, 2400, 2469; VI, 525, 526, 528, 535,536); by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to acommittee for examination (III, 2364, 2491, 2494, 2496, 2499, 2515; VI,543); by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred toa committee (Apr. 15, 1970, p. 11941; Oct. 23, 1973, p. 34873); by amessage from the President (III, 2294, 2319; VI, 498); by chargestransmitted from the legislature of a State (III, 2469) or territory(III, 2487) or from a grand jury (III, 2488); or from facts developedand reported by an investigating committee of the House (III, 2399,2444).

These would match up with House rules as archived by Cornell University (one of the major repositories of online law archives) as well as via the government's own archive of rules of impeachment in use by the 106th Congress.

In other words (from the linked articles and analysis), technically an impeachment proceeding against the President can begin by a state legislature passing a resolution calling for the President of the United States--or any other federal official (with the possible exception of Congressmen, see below)--to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Again, this has never to my knowledge been legally tested and I am not a lawyer, but it is a very interesting possibility to remove dominionists from office--especially as quite a few "pander-bears" to the dominionist movement have in fact been indicted in regards to the Abramoff scandal (an ever-increasing list of people connected has already lead to the loss of two positions in Congressional committees and a change to the Speaker of the House), and there is increasing evidence that a large number of Republican senators--several of whom are connected to the Abramoff scandal (which has already made links, among other things, to multiple head figures of the dominionist community and a dominionist 501(c)3 DeLay ran (the investigation surrounding which began the whole shebang in the first place))--are also connected to a possible day trading scam.  (Whilst technically Senators and Congressmen are technically safe from impeachment, if they are in the line of succession to the Presidency they can likely be impeached upon their succession.  Also, if they are convicted in a regular court of a crime they can technically be removed from office.)

Also, if needed, theoretically Supreme Court justices and other federal officials tied to dominionism could theoretically be impeached.  (Again, the one exception is probably Congressmen, but House and Senate rules provide for the expulsion of Congresscritters from their office upon conviction of a serious crime.)

Very interestingly, one potential ground that the President may be impeachable on is the crime of treason, according to some experts (in reference to Plamegate, specifically); more likely (due to the fact that treason is very hard to prove legally, requiring either two witnesses or a confession), a possible charge is violation of the oath of office (failure to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the US, and in many cases, deliberate attempts to subvert them or break them).

Also--of special note--according to the published rules of the House, an impeachment proceeding would trump all other business up to and including the voting on Alito to the Supreme Court.

One of the best parts of this is that--if one state passes a resolution calling for impeachment and gives it to the House--technically the House's business goes to a dead stop until they vote to support the charges, support the charges in part, or vote there are no grounds for impeachment--and likely, voting there are "no grounds for impeachment" would be political suicide.  

Even more interestingly, technically the government passing an impeachment resolution doesn't even have to be a state.  Technically, a territory--such as Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the North Mariana Islands, American Samoa, etc.--could pass the resolution even though their representatives are not voting members of Congress and technically the House still has to act on it.  The nonvoting rep for the District of Columbia could also pass a similar resolution if the city commission passes it, and DC could launch an impeachment proceeding.  (It's rather more up in the air for areas that are "quasi-territories" of the US--like the Federated States of Micronesia--that are in "free association" with the US for most of their affairs but are usually considered independent.)

Now, I'll be honest.  Most of me is inclined to take this with a bit of salt...but I'm having problems finding flaws in the strategy he's taking (at least as far as getting the dominionists out of office).  It also might be worth looking into state impeachment rules, too.

(Lest people discount the possibility of state impeachments--Governor Ernie Fletcher in Kentucky (who is now explicitly  playing to the dominionist crowd in supporting "equal time for intelligent design" in Kentucky schools) is presently being investigated for a massive hiring scandal (where supporters of Fletcher's campaign were preferentially given merit awards) which is involving much of the Republican Party in that state; Fletcher stepped in it even more when he preemptively pardoned everyone in the state besides himself potentially involved.  There is very serious talk of
impeaching Fletcher specifically because of the latter, and presently Fletcher has the third lowest approval rating of any governor in the United States (only Alaska's Murkowski and Ohio's Taft have lower approval ratings).)

Comments are actually appreciated on this--among other things, one thing I'd like is expert opinion from the rest of you on just how feasible an approach this may be (of getting impeachment proceedings started in states less friendly to dominionism on a federal level, and of research on a state level to see if state General Assembly rules have similar guidelines).




Display:
Except at the meta-level :

Your approach might gain some traction with the media although I doubt it would go far. Laws - especially of late - can be rather stretchy when issues of national power are involved.

The US, by the way, is not at war with Iraq nor is the US at war at all. Congress never declared war - the rest is rhetoric. That is a legal fact, but it is only dimly acknowledged. My point is that I doubt there will be any magic formula to put an end to executive overreach although such points, skilfully advanced, can have great tactical force.

But who knows ? - this could also tip the balance.

by Bruce Wilson on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 12:14:00 AM EST

From what I understand, the main thing the blogger who's proposing this is going for is to essentially show the dominionist-controlled factions of the Republican party for what they are:

a) If the House and Senate vote to impeach, a slew of dominionist governmental executives could lose office.

b) If the House or Senate refuse to impeach, many people think this could be potentially political suicide (as this would be a major "tipping point"--many people, even in Republican circles, are starting to make noises re impeachment of the President).

The whole purpose of it, methinks, is to force a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario for the GOP.

The trick may be to find a friendly legislature.  Maine has been mentioned on Dark Christianity as a possibility.

by dogemperor on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 12:15:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]



I had remembered learning that Spiro Agnew was impeached (and removed from office), but I was under the impression that Nixon resigned before impeachment proceedings could begin with him.  If I'm mistaken, though, thanks for the correction :3

by dogemperor on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 12:16:31 PM EST
It can be confusing.

"Impeachment" is actually like an "indictment" -- that is, bringing charges against a person in office.

The person is removed upon conviction.

The American Bar Assocation has a FAQ with a clear explanations:


What is impeachment?
A. It is a process, authorized by the Constitution, to bring charges against certain officials of the federal government for misconduct while in office.

and this (I added the bold):

Article 2, Section 4, specifies that "The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."


by cyncooper on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 07:34:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]



WWW Talk To Action


Ah, True Remonstrance!
In previous posts I have called for mainstream Catholics to offer remonstrance - an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance against the......
By Frank Cocozzelli (4 comments)
Congressman Wants Citizens of ALL Religions to Reflect on the Ten Commandments
Well, spring is in the air, and that can mean only one thing. It's time for a member of Congress to introduce a resolution......
By Chris Rodda (0 comments)
Happy Birthday, Pat!: Virginia Legislature Lauds Extremist TV Preacher Robertson
TV evangelist Pat Robertson's 80th birthday is on Monday, and to mark that momentous occasion, the Virginia legislature decided to pass a resolution lauding......
By Rob Boston (1 comment)
Netanyahu and Hagee, Serial Obstructionists
Last week I wrote about Prime Minister Netanyahu's participation at John Hagee's CUFI rally held in Jerusalem on the evening of Joe Biden's arrival......
By Rachel Tabachnick (0 comments)
Bill Donohue: Defender of Glenn Beck.
Glenn Beck's recent admonition that people who attend a church that teaches social justice should leave -- was anti-Catholicism. This was obvious from a......
By Frank Cocozzelli (5 comments)
Blog Against Theocracy!
It's that time of year again.  It's time for the annual Blog Against Theocracy, April 2-4, 2010.   The prime mover of this blogtacular......
By Frederick Clarkson (1 comment)
Creeping Religious Rightism in the Democratic Party, Cont.
  Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has an op-ed today at AOL News discussing how, campaign......
By Frederick Clarkson (6 comments)
Invoking Intolerance: Religious Right Throws Fit Over Islamic Prayer In Virginia
Today an imam delivered the opening prayer before the Virginia House of Delegates - and once again the Religious Right is having kittens. Three......
By Rob Boston (1 comment)
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and John Hagee Share Stage as Biden Arrives in Israel
Yesterday (Monday) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to hundreds of Christian Zionists in Jerusalem at an event organized by John Hagee and Christians......
By Rachel Tabachnick (6 comments)
When the Truth Is Shown to Be Lies
It's been a year since President Obama lifted the Bush administration's restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.  Nevertheless, religious opponents......
By Frank Cocozzelli (7 comments)
Repent Amarillo's Spiritual Mapping and Vigilantism
Repent Amarillo, a Texas ministry which refers to itself as an "Army of God,"  is making news for its spiritual warfare and vigilante tactics.......
By Rachel Tabachnick (17 comments)
Whale Tale: AFA Staffer Says Bible Mandates Death For SeaWorld Orca
On Feb. 24, a tragedy occurred at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla. A six-ton killer whale known as Tillikum pulled trainer Dawn Brancheau underwater to......
By Rob Boston (5 comments)
A Call to Censor the Religion Blogosphere
Some time ago, I filled out a survey from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in connection with an academic study they were doing......
By Frederick Clarkson (8 comments)
Prayer Warriors of the New Apostolic Reformation Getting Some Exposure
Yesterday Alternet published an article by Bill Berkowitz including an interview with me about the New Apostolic Reformation, or the "largest religious movement you......
By Rachel Tabachnick (8 comments)
Role Models of Remonstrance
I recently called for mainstream Catholics to offer remonstrance -- an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance against the reactionaries now fomenting......
By Frank Cocozzelli (8 comments)

Publicizing the existence of the NAR -- some suggestions
Some regular columnists here on Talk to Action have complained about difficulties in getting the mass media to notice the existence of a new but rapidly growing - and already highly influential - religious......
Diane Vera (2 comments)
School Board, State and school prayer
Now both the Polk County School Board and the state of Florida are trying to push prayers in the schools! ......
ArchaeoBob (0 comments)
City in trouble for sectarian prayers
The city of Lakeland, Florida has been challenged by Atheists of Florida and the local synagogue for having sectarian prayers before public meetings. ......
ArchaeoBob (0 comments)
The Blind Side's Blind Spot
The hit movie, The Blind Side, is all about the Christian values of being your "brother's keeper." Or is it? ......
John Sheirer (3 comments)
When Christianity is Un-American
Just thought readers might be interested in linking to this article at The Yurica Report: ......
TMurray (1 comment)
Violence increasing
I think people should read this article- and realize that the dominionists are becoming more and more violent.  If something isn't done to counter their hate, this country is in deep trouble! ......
ArchaeoBob (3 comments)
His "Freedom" Means Denying Yours - With Your Own Taxes
Referring to recent political skirmishes over the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, Cardinal Francis George called five rocks thrown at empty buildings and the theft of a few lawn signs "quasi-fascism."  He......
bettyclermont (0 comments)
Rome has spoken....Man the lifeboats!
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, it was widely reported that he preferred a smaller, more obedient flock in his Church. Once again, he is proving those reports to......
bettyclermont (0 comments)
Your children will be forced to shower with gays! (says the AFA)
I've just received the following American Family Association email, which claims that the Obama administration has a nefarious plan to force gays and straights in the US military to shower together ! Donald Wildmon......
Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
Pope John Paul II's Penitential Practices: The Opus Dei Connection
We are pleased to once again welcome theologian William Lindsey as a guest front pager. This piece is crossposted from the new progressive Catholic group blog, The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody. -- FC......
William Lindsey (0 comments)
WallBuilders, Inc., Promoting a dominionist "Christian Nation"
Cherry Hill Seminary Supports Patrick McCollum in 9th Circuit Case Against California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation http://snipurl.com/u8kcj ......
Dragonzmajick (2 comments)
Roeder verdict sparks fears of more anti-abortion violence
cross-posted at dKos Scott Roeder is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of George Tiller.  At the very least, he'll by 75 years old before he can......
Christian Dem in NC (0 comments)
The dark underside of the Latter Rain--a walkaway's view
cross-posted at dKos I read Bruce Wilson's posts on dKos and Talk To Action regarding the "Pray For Newark" initiative with particular alarm.  While Pray for Newark appears to espouse an admirable goal--community empowerment--it's......
Christian Dem in NC (2 comments)
Bishops as Provocateurs
In a thinly-veiled reference to the campaign of President Barack Obama, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, charged that Americans are "embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the 'hope,' the 'future' of......
bettyclermont (0 comments)
The Vatican v. Children
Yesterday was not a good day for children seeking justice from the Roman Catholic Church. The internet brought the following news: ......
bettyclermont (0 comments)
Religious bigots control supermarket chain
Well, they've won again.  The religious bigots have forced Publix Supermarkets into bowing to their wishes. ......
ArchaeoBob (11 comments)
Manhattan Declaration is to Theology what Fox is to Journalism
The December 20, 2009, New York Times ran a lengthy article by David D. Kirkpatrick about Robert P. George, "The Conservative-Christian Big Thinker." The occasion was release of George's "Manhattan Declaration" signed by the......
bettyclermont (2 comments)
Merry Freakin' Christmas: I'm Taking Your Stuff, and you Can't Stop Me!
A humorous look at the larger implications of a seemingly harmless holiday tradition. ......
John Sheirer (1 comment)
Lou Engle, September 25, 2007, Los Angeles: "Holywood"
[This is a partial transcription of a sermon/speech Lou Engle, Founder of TheCall gave on September 25, 2007, in Los Angeles. The full sermon is slightly over 63 minutes. This partial transcript is of......
Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Rick Warren Tweet complains my videos of his "Hitler/Lenin/Mao" speech are unfair
It's gratifying to know "America's most powerful pastor" seems to have taken notice of my videos, showcasing Rick Warren's 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during which Warren outlined a "stealth" program to......
Bruce Wilson (4 comments)
Blurring Reproductive Rights and the Religious Right
The principle of the Hyde Amendment, which restricted federal funds from paying for abortion back in 1976 -- is now seen as an acceptable, "abortion neutral" position for the prochoice Democratic Party. How did......
Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Rick Warren Calls on Followers To Be Dedicated as Followers of Lenin and Mao
[note: for more recent news on Rick Warren, see Rick Warren's Dissertation Advisor Leads Network Promoting Uganda Anti-Gay Bill] Video, below contains audio recording, photos, and transcript from Rick Warren's April 17, 2005 speech......
Bruce Wilson (6 comments)
Julius Oyet Touts The College of Prayer
A new Talk To Action story identifies Apostle and bishop Julius Oyet as a major player in the recent effort in the Ugandan parliament to pass a draconian anti-gay bill. In this video [transcript......
Bruce Wilson (1 comment)
Mark Silk on the Hagee / Rodriguez Entente
Mark Silk, at Spiritual Politics has picked up on my notice of the Hagee-Rodriguez embrace and zeroes in on what's certainly one of the most notable aspects: "The key thing to understand about the......
Bruce Wilson (1 comment)
Inscribing Christian Values in our Children Before Birth?
Following the evolution of evangelical discourse as it re-defines homosexuality as evidence of "fallen creation", Terri Murray looks at how the Christian right have shifted their rhetoric to adapt to empirical research showing that......
TMurray (1 comment)
US News & World Report Showcases Creationist Ray Comfort
US News and World Report's Dan Gilgoff has charitably provided evangelist Ray Comfort a media platform in the form of a US News & World "exclusive" through which Comfort defends his efforts to distribute,......
Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Atheist billboard in Central Florida
The organization "Atheists of Florida" sponsored a billboard promoting atheism in Lakeland, Florida.  I, however, have some concerns. ......
ArchaeoBob (4 comments)
Transcript: Billy Graham and Richard Nixon, February 21, 1973
The following is my own transcript of a 20 minute phone conversation between Richard Nixon and Billy Graham, on February 23, 1973. As far as I am aware this is the only publicly available,......
Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Rifqa Bary being sent back to Ohio now
Well, there's a change in this case.  After the judge gets immigration documents and so on from the parents, he will send her back. ......
ArchaeoBob (2 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC. Powered by Scoop