Is this a sign that Congress is prepared to send and international message and hold the present administration accountable? Don't count on it.
The vote started out along party lines, but midway through House Republicans began taking direction from GOP leadership and actually changed votes to bring the issue to the floor for debate. With the turnaround, the total was 251-162 against tabling the proposal. But in the end Democrats faltered, and they moved to refer the resolution to House committee where it will be buried.
Too bad Dems don't have the balls to push a trial in which Cheney has to atone for shooting his buddy in the face, war profiteering with the Hallibutonization of Iraq, or wagging the dog with tales of weapons buried in the desert. Too bad.
But this country has a record of challenging leadership decisions that were distasteful across the board. I thought, in honor of the gross politicking taking place on Capitol Hill, I would take a moment to examine what exactly impeachment is.
What is it?
The US Constitution states in Article II, Section 4 that "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be impeached and removed from office for conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," and it commissions the House of Representatives to press charges and empowers the Senate alone to make the final decision on removal.
Ambiguity of it all
"High crimes and misdemeanors" is an ambiguous phrase. Abuse of power and serious misconduct in office fit this category, but one act that is definitely not grounds for impeachment is partisan discord. Several impeachment cases have confused political animosity with genuine crimes (think William Jefferson Clinton, impeached for saying he "Did not have sexual relations with [Monica Lewinsky]" which was probably a lie, but not an impeachable offense. Thus the reason it was important to prove that he had in fact committed perjury with this statement). This is often the most difficult part of the impeachment process for the public to digest and for the government to process because it is left up to Congress, the most bipartisan entity in the American government. Implication: The most political creature of government must put aside politics and put on their lawyer caps, viewing the issue at hand through legislative eyes.
It's a miracle anything ever happens in this country at all.
The History of Impeachment in the United States
There have been sixteen officials impeached in the US since the Constitution was ratified in 1796. Most were judges, and most were let off the hook or quit before they could be removed from office.
Small Fries
- William Blount, Senator, Tenn., plotted to incite Cherokees and Creeks to aid the British in assuming Spanish lands in Florida. He was voted out of office is just five days 1797.
- John Pickering, US District Court judge, New Hamp. An alcoholic with a propensity for disappearing and shunning duties, he was removed from office when he showed up drunk to hear a case in 1804.
- Samuel Chase, US Supreme Court associate justice, was charged on eight fabricated counts primarily surrounding his ruling in a treason case against John Fries. His impeachment was really payback by President Thomas Jefferson for the Marbury v Madison decision. He was acquitted in 1805.
- James Peck, US District Court judge, Tenn. Had a lawyer, Luke Lawless, jailed for contempt and revoked his license to practice for 18 months when Lawless published a letter in the newspaper rebutting Peck's ruling in a Louisiana Purchase land claim case. He was acquitted in 1831.
- West Humphreys, US District Court judge, Mo. In a post-Civil War case, he was charged with publicly calling for secession, aiding an armed rebellion, conspiracy, serving as a Confederate Judge, confiscating theproperty of government officials, and imprisoning a Union sympathiser with "intent to injure him." He failed to appear for his own hearing and was removed from office in 1862.
- William Belknap, secretary of war, was charged with taking bribes for appointing post tradesman. He resigned his office, but was acquitted in 1876.
- Charles Swayne, US District Court judge, Fla. He was charged with 12 counts of corruption and abuse of power, including filing false travel vouchers, improper use of private railroad cars, unlawfully imprisoning two attorneys for contempt, and living outside of his district but wasacquitted in 1905.
- Robert W. Archbald, US Commerce Court associate judge, was charged with 13 counts of corruption and abuse of power. His case revealed he had accepted gifts such as free trips to Europe. He was convicted on five counts and removed from office in 1913.
- George English, US District Court judge, Ill. He was charged with corruption, embezzling, failure to give impartial consideration to cases and for his abusive treatment of lawyers and litigants. He resigned in 1926 before he was tried.
- Harold Louderback, US District Court judge, Calif., was charged with corruption for his dealing of several bankruptcy cases and acquitted of all charges in 1933.
- Halsted Ritter, US District Court judge, Fla., was also charged with corruption for his dealing with bankruptcy cases and for charging exorbitant legal fees with the alleged intent to embezzel. He removed from office in 1936.
- Harry Claiborne, US District Court judge, Nev., was charged with tax evasion and removed from office in 1986.
- Alcee Hastings, US District Court judge, Fla. He was charged with taking $150,000 bribe for a lenient sentence, racketeering, corruption and perjury and removed from office in 1988.
- Walter Nixon, US District Court judge, Miss., spoke to a long-time friend and attorney, convincing him to drop a case against the son of Nixon's business partner. When asked by the FBI and before a grand jury about the matter, he denied involvement. He was charged with perjury and removed from office in 1989.
- President Andrew Johnson. There were actually two attempts at this. Division in Congress over Reconstruction led to the entrapment of Johnson. He was ultimately charged for breaking a law he had vetoed when he replaced his secretary of war. He was acquitted in 1868.
- President William J. Clinton. Remember Kenneth Starr. Remember the infamous blue dress. The charges initially began with a real estate scam commonly referred to as White Water. It turned into a sex scandal and Clinton was charged with perjury for stating that he did not sleep with a White House intern. He was acquitted in 1999.
- Richard Nixon. I won't bother going into details. If you don't know the story by now, read this.
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