Rutland County Vermont Invokes Jefferson Manual Rule 603
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Kagro X has it. Here it is:"Tonight, the Rutland County Democratic Committee became the first body of which I'm aware to pass a resolution calling for impeachment specifically under the procedures outlined in Jefferson's Manual, Section 603.
To refresh your memory:
NOTE: Sec. 603. Inception of impeachment proceedings in the House. This refers to Jefferson's Manual-the House uses it as a supplement to its
standing rules.>>
In the House there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion:
[...] by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State (III, 2469)
I originally took up the subject at The Next Hurrah, and then moved on to a series of posts regarding the necessity of impeachment.
Arbortender's diary linked back to another blog, where the idea apparently originated. And to be perfectly honest with you, this read at first like just another fringe-y, kooked-out misreading of procedure. But I just happen to have an old copy of Jefferson's Manual here on the desk, and sure enough, that's just what it says. The legislature of any state or territory may transmit charges to the Congress and recommend impeachment.
Now, to be sure, there is nothing that forces the House of Representatives -- still the sole body capable of adopting actual articles of impeachment -- to act on such charges. In fact, you can be assured that they'd do everything in their power to avoid doing so.
But what a story it'd make! A little known constitutional procedure that has lain dormant for decades, never before used against a president, and pitting the duly elected and sworn legislature of a state against a federal Congress sitting on its hands and refusing to act!
The question was, where to begin?
Well, clearly you'll need to begin in a state with a strong Democratic majority in the legislature. That's just plain fact. And while it may be complained that it puts an unduly partisan shine on things, the bottom line at the time was that there really are no Republicans willing to consider their duty in this matter, though it may now be argued that the Dubai ports deal may have changed the equation.
After analyzing the partisan composition of the state legislatures and the state-by-state SurveyUSA polling on Bush's approval ratings, I identified Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts as leading prospects for passing such a resolution, based on their overwhelming Democratic majorities in each house of their legislatures and their abyssmal approval ratings for Bush.
Kossack Vermonters, both past and present, immediately took up the challenge. I was contacted by bumblebums, who put me in touch with a sympathetic former Vermont state senator, and by the seldom-seen maplefrost, who is the hero of tonight's story.
Maplefrost, you see, turned out to be one of Vermont's presidential electors, and the author of that state's 2004 resolution demanding an inquiry into the Ohio voting irregularities.
And it was Maplefrost who carried the following resolution forward to the Rutland County Democrats tonight, where it passed unanimously:
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Section 603 of the Manual of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives provides for impeachments to be initiated on a motion based on charges transmitted from a state legislature, and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has committed high crimes and misdemeanors as he has repeatedly and intentionally violated the United States Constitution and other laws of the United States, particularly the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Torture Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution is a treaty as part of the "supreme law of the land",
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has acted to strip Americans of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to legal counsel, without charge and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant", all in subversion of law, and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has ordered and authorized the Attorney General to override judicial orders for the release of detainees under U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS) jurisdiction, even though the judicial officer after full hearing has determined that a detainee is held wrongfully by the Government, and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has ordered at least thirty times the National Security Agency to intercept and otherwise record international telephone and other signals and communications by American citizens without warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, and designated certain U.S. citizens as "enemy combatants", all in violation of constitutional guarantees of due process, and
WHEREAS George W. Bush has admitted that he willfully and repeatedly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and boasted that he would continue to do so, each violation constituting a felony,
NOW THEREFORE the Rutland County Democratic Committee submits that his actions and admissions constitute ample grounds for his impeachment, and that the General Assembly of the State of Vermont has good cause for submitting charges to the U.S. House of Representatives under Section 603 as grounds for George W. Bush's impeachment.
The County Committee further submits that Articles of Impeachment should charge that George W. Bush has violated his constitutional oath to execute faithfully the office of President and to the best of his ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
In all of this George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the State of Vermont and of the United States.
WHEREFORE, George W. Bush, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any offices of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
February 28, 2006
Adopted: February 28, 2006
I can't add much to that, folks. Action from words. From blog to reality."
