Impeach Bush To Stop Pardons

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Impeach Bush To Stop Pardons
16
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 2:03pm

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977507547

Dear Representative and Senators,

President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney stand accused of 39 grave and impeachable offenses, including war crimes, torture, warrantless wiretapping, and outing a covert CIA operative.

Most of these offenses are felonies for which Bush and Cheney can be criminally prosecuted after they leave office. But prosecutions will be impossible if Bush issues blanket pre-emptive pardons for Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, other senior officials, and even himself.

Can Bush do this? Absolutely. Gerald Ford set the precedent in 1974 when he gave Richard Nixon a blanket pre-emptive pardon for any crime he "may have committed."

Presidential pardon power is nearly unlimited under the Constitution. We support efforts in Congress to outlaw pre-emptive or self-pardons, but even if a bill passes Congress before Bush leave office, Bush will certainly veto it. So how can we stop Bush's pardons?

The Founding Fathers clearly anticipated a corrupt President might pardon his co-conspirators, and specified impeachment as the remedy.

George Mason, the father of the Bill of Rights, argued at the Constitutional Convention that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection."

James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution, added that "if the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty."

As your constituent, I urge you to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney before they issue pardons. But if that fails, I urge you to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney afterwards for issuing pardons that constitute obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

A post-inaugural impeachment would prohibit those impeached from ever holding federal office, either elected or appointed. Arguably, impeachment would also nullify pre-impeachment pardons and permit prosecutions. Finally, impeachment would tell future Presidents they cannot abuse their pardon power to put themselves above the law.

In 1776, Thomas Paine famously wrote, "in America, the law is King." Congress must not allow a President to commit crimes with impunity, or it makes the President a King - or worse, a Dictator.

Impeach Bush To Stop Pardons

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 2:21pm
I really doubt they will ever be prosecuted, pardon or no pardon. Also, it seems wrong to impeach as a preventive measure. They will be gone in a few months.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2008
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 6:12pm
Dream on.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-12-2007
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 6:15pm
NT

   

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 7:22pm
Do you realize that Clinton broke the record on pardons?
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 8:21pm

Not only do I question your data, http://blog.fortiusone.com/2007/07/05/politics-of-presidential-pardons/ ,

I question your point. I'm not worried about how many pardons Bush grants, it's who he grants them to and what their alleged offenses are. In this case, there is the potential that his pardons will be ethically questionable. According to the article, he has the authority to abuse his power and that is why the impeachment process exists.

uCruiser.com Ticker


The tolerance and understanding necessary to heal
must come from each and every one of us,
arising out of our everyday conduct until decency
reaches a flood tide. ~Muhammad Ali
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2008
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 9:32pm
Why?
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 10:10pm
And Clinton's weren't ethically questionable? Let's start with Marc Rich.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2008
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 10:18pm
Yes but isn't the lawyer who begged for Rich's pardon on Obama's team.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 10:44pm

That would be Eric Holder, Obama's pick for attorney general.


Bill also pardoned his brother who had a drug rap.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2008
Wed, 11-19-2008 - 10:52pm
Hillary's brother, I think.

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