Letters to the Editor
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Contempt of Congress? Oooo, I'm scared
So, Senators, what will happen if you decide that the White House is indeed in contempt of Congress?
What's that? You'll introduce a motion of censure? I'm sure the First Psychopath and Sith Lord Cheney are quaking in their Mephistos.
All of this means less than nothing until this gutless pack of political hacks grows the spine necessary to impeach Bush and Cheney. Nothing else matters.
If we can't hold the most destructive administration in the history of this nation accountable, we have nothing.
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Two words
Inherent contempt. Congress has the power to arrest and jail anyone found in contempt of Congress, without going through the courts.
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It's June 29, Sen. Leahy...
Tick, tick, tick...
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the power to "arrest and jail"
Now I thought the administration was immune to law suits, are they allowed to be arrested? Is it sick that these people are forcing this sort of question?
Oh man would that be phenomenal. Bush and Cheney doing a perp walk out of 1600. Oh yeah Jet packs and teleporters would be cool too.
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from an "undisclosed" location
Cheney will target and fire a "tactical" nuc on the Capitol--Bush will be a casualty--just another collateral damage.
It's not as preposterous as it sounds: http://tinyurl.com/2p9h4h
Cheney will take as many down with him as he can. Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Place your bets now...
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"Contempt of Congress" as explained by Wikipedia
As explained here (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress), there is clear precedent for Congressional action against executive branch officials:
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Procedures
Following the refusal of a witness to produce documents or to testify, the Committee is entitled to report a resolution of contempt to its parent chamber. A Committee may also cite a person for contempt but not immediately report the resolution to the floor. In the case of subcommittees, they report the resolution of contempt to the full Committee, which then has the option of rejecting it, accepting it but not reporting it to the floor, or accepting it and reporting it to the floor of the chamber for action. On the floor of the House or the Senate, the reported resolution is considered privileged and, if the resolution of contempt is passed, the chamber has several options to enforce its mandate.
Inherent contempt
Under this process, the procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited for contempt is arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms for the House or Senate, brought to the floor of the chamber, held to answer charges by the presiding officer, and then subject to punishment that the House may dictate (usually imprisonment for punishment reasons, imprisonment for coercive effect, or release from the contempt citation.)
Concerned with the time-consuming nature of a contempt proceeding and the inability to extend punishment further than the session of the Congress concerned (under Supreme Court rulings), Congress created a statutory process in 1857. While Congress retains its "inherent contempt" authority and may exercise it at any time, this inherent contempt process was last used by the Senate in 1934, against the Postmaster-General. After a one-week trial in the Senate floor (presided by the Vice-President of the United States, acting as Senate President), the Postmaster-General was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
The Postmaster General had filed a petition of Habeas Corpus in federal courts to overturn his arrest, but after litigation, the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted constitutionally, and denied the petition in the case Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1945).
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Contempt.
It's what this administrations thinks of it's own electorate. Bye, bye Democracy. It was nice while it lasted...
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Legislators can't arrest anybody
They need the Justice Department to make any arrests.
Ah yeees, the Justice Department. Now lemmie see, who runs the Justice Department?
Ummm hmmmm.
Fat chance Leahy and Conyers. The VEEP already told Leahy to his face, "go fuck yourself." I guess he needs reminding.
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Bush knows Congress has no enforcement power
So they can thumb their noses at Congress and what are they gonna do? They can't even cut the purse strings to war they themselves don't want. Subpoenas? Sounds thin.
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Contempt proceedings
Yikes! Okay, we'll see if the threat goes through. At the very least, it's an escalation in this game of chicken. Of course, if you permit me to dream for a moment, wouldn't it be awesome if W. and Vice ended up in jail? Mmm...
...okay, dream over. Of course, now they've got four options. One, turn over the docoments and possibly face much longer and much more assured jail time. Two, remain in contempt and risk going to jail that way. Three, wrangle a blockage of the Senate or House vote so that the contempt procedures stall. Four, dissolve Congress and institute martial law.
Which do you think they will opt for?
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more from wikipedia...
Inherent contempt
Under this process, the procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited for contempt is arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms for the House or Senate, brought to the floor of the chamber, held to answer charges by the presiding officer, and then subject to punishment that the House may dictate (usually imprisonment for punishment reasons, imprisonment for coercive effect, or release from the contempt citation.)
Concerned with the time-consuming nature of a contempt proceeding and the inability to extend punishment further than the session of the Congress concerned (under Supreme Court rulings), Congress created a statutory process in 1857. While Congress retains its "inherent contempt" authority and may exercise it at any time, this inherent contempt process was last used by the Senate in 1934, against the Postmaster-General. After a one-week trial in the Senate floor (presided by the Vice-President of the United States, acting as Senate President), the Postmaster-General was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
The Postmaster General had filed a petition of Habeas Corpus in federal courts to overturn his arrest, but after litigation, the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted constitutionally, and denied the petition in the case Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1945).[1]
[emphasis mine, irony intentional]
Let's hope in this case that Conyers acts first, because it's hard to see how Ctheney could effectively preside over such a trial, even if he is "acting as Senate President." Certainly, I cannot imagine him recusing himself.
Maybe Glenn will post something on the Contempt of Congress and Subpoena process...