tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post5122856861128028951..comments2024-01-03T05:23:36.046-08:00Comments on The Citizens: Oversight and the ConstitutionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-57924978698449117772007-07-30T07:30:00.000-07:002007-07-30T07:30:00.000-07:00This issue shouldn't be partisan. It is just anoth...This issue shouldn't be partisan. It is just another manifestation of the constitutional crisis that we have been suffering for the last 7 years. Republicans should be just as concerned about the imbalance of powers that they and their president have created as everyone else. Someday, it may be a Democratic administration who chooses to take advantage of the precedent that this current Administration has set. What we need are for real statesmen to come forward in Congress and to hold the Executive Branch to account for its abuses. Congress must reassert its constitutional powers. It must make movements toward impeachment.<BR/><BR/>This Administration has done more damage to the balance of power than did that of Nixon. Bill Moyers recently held an interesting discussion with two conservative commentators who said that the real constitutional crisis started with Nixon. Because Nixon resigned and was not formerly impeached, he was not held to account for his abuses of power. Both of these commentators used the word IMPEACH several times as in “both Bush and Cheney” should be impeached. They have clearly violated the U.S. Constitution several times, thus violating their oaths of office. I don’t think waiting these people out is appropriate. We need to think beyond politics and the next election to the future of our democracy. In order to address the constitutional crisis that we have now, real action must be taken. This is more important than politics. Besides, holding impeachment hearings would start an important dialogue in this country and it would educate the public about the real crisis that we now face. In fact, <BR/><BR/>I am not an expert on British history, but I believe that it was a powerful parliament that lead to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Great Britain. This Administration is acting like a monarchy. This is exactly what Madison and Jefferson feared. By commuting the sentence of Libby, Bush has shown himself to be above all law and sent the message to his underlings that if they lie on his behalf, they will not be held to account. Witness Gonzales.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-37712096324477215942007-07-26T09:28:00.000-07:002007-07-26T09:28:00.000-07:00The ability of the legislature to hold inquiries, ...The ability of the legislature to hold inquiries, issue subpoenas, and enforce them with penalties for contempt (sub + poena = under penalty) is a crucial part of legislative power and part of a long untrammelled parliamentary tradition. Until modern statutes were enacted, the "inherent power" of Congress to declare contempt was used repeatedly from the 1790s to the early 1930s. It can be used again today, if the DOJ is unwilling to do its duty. <BR/><BR/>Crucially, even modern statutes do not divest Congress of its inherent power to enforce contempt citations on its own. See In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661 (1897) ("We quite agree ... that congress possessed the constitutional power to enact a statute to enforce the attendance of witnesses, and to compel them to make disclosure of evidence to enable the respective bodies to discharge their legitimate functions,’ and that it was to effect this that the act of 1857 was passed. It was an act necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested in congress and in each house thereof. <B>We grant that congress could not divest itself, or either of its houses, of the essential and inherent power to punish for contempt</B>, in cases to which the power of either house properly extended.")The Law Talking Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17886791396468512490noreply@blogger.com