emanymton
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Thu Jun-28-07 09:23 AM
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Hole In The Whole Impeachment Issue |
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. The Hole In The Whole Impeachment Issue Facing USA
Who will sit in judgment? As in every legal issue, the case for impeachment must have at least three elements; an accuser, an accused and a judge.
The Constitution in Article 1 Section 3 in part states, “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: ...”
The Constitution states in Article 2 Section 4 “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Given the nature of the proceedings is it not reasonable to expect the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts, Jr. to recuse himself? He was after all appointed by this president and is too close to him to appear impartial. If not him, then “who” becomes the question. The appearance of a conflict of interest has compromised many other members of the Supreme Court.
About the only solution is to seek international judicial review. Rendering the president and vice president to the International Court Of Justice in The Hague (Netherlands) for trial could be a process to reestablishing the rule of law within USA. (This will not happen for so many reasons.)
So one is presented with a constitutional crisis of the first order. And one heck of a hole in the whole process. .
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merh
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Thu Jun-28-07 09:27 AM
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1. The chief justice does not rule on guilt or innocence in an |
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impeachment proceeding. The senators are like a jury, by a majority they vote guilt or innocence (not the required unanimous vote of a jury)after considering the evidence.
The chief justice is there to oversee the proceedings, to rule on the issues of law.
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Kagemusha
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Thu Jun-28-07 09:44 AM
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2. When the constitution was written, there was only one supreme court justice, right? |
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I don't think recusal was part of the design. As people have written, the whole nature of the proceeding is deeply political to begin with. The chief justice isn't deciding guilt so, it's really up to the senators... and unfortunately either way, I don't see a better solution, and the founders didn't seem to anticipate one either.
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MonkeyFunk
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Thu Jun-28-07 10:06 AM
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3. Roberts would not recuse himself |
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the constitution says it's his job to preside, and there's no provision for recusing himself.
He doesn't sit in judgment - he oversees the proceedings. The senate sits in judgment.
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DU
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Wed May 08th 2024, 09:49 AM
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