Legislators in US states call for the impeachment of President Bush

Tuesday, May 2, 2006  Legislators in three states have introduced resolutions calling for the impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. US state legislators Karen Yarbrough of Illinois, Paul Koretz of California, and David Zuckerman of Vermont have each introduced resolutions to begin impeachment proceedings. Yarbrough and Koretz are Democrats, and Zuckerman is a member of the Vermont Progressive Party.

Yarbrough's resolution charges Bush with directing the National Security Agency to perform surveillance without a warrant in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; violating the torture conventions of the Geneva Convention, and "leaking classified national secrets to further an agenda." Koretz' similar resolution also calls for Cheney to be impeached.

Zuckerman introduced a resolution last Tuesday in the Vermont House of Representatives that asks Congress to "initiate impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush." The resolution says "George W. Bush has committed high crimes and misdemeanors as he has repeatedly and intentionally violated the United States Constitution and other laws of the United States." Twelve Vermont state representatives (Democrats, Progressives, 1 Independent) have endorsed the resolution.

The Illinois resolution invokes Section 603 of Jefferson's Rules for the national House and Senate, which allows for the introduction of impeachment charges "by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State or territory." Section 604 also states that an impeachment charge brought by any means would be a privileged motion, superseding most other business in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As of April 30, the Illinois resolution has been referred to the Rules Committee and has been sponsored by 17 representatives including Yarbrough.

In response to the Vermont resolution, the state's Republican Party Chairman James Barnett said, "If this is the best they can do at this late hour of the legislative session, then it's time to close down shop and go home for the summer so they can explain to their constituents that they didn't reform health care because they were too busy trying to impeach the president."

According to a CBS poll, the President's public approval rating has steadily declined, and is so far at an all time low of 33%.

Sister links

• Movement to impeach George W. Bush

• Public perception and assessments of George W. Bush

Sources

• David Swanson. "State Legislators in 2 States Introduce Impeachment Resolutions - More States Expected Soon" — Common Dreams Newswire, April 24, 2006
• Matt Hutaff. "Revolutionary Thinking: State Legislatures Push Impeachment" — The Simon, April 25, 2006
• "Impeachment resolution nets 24 co-sponsors, sent to committee" — The Vermont Guardian, April 26, 2006
• "Vermont lawmakers introduce impeachment resolution" — The Boston Globe, April 26, 2006
• Michael Collins. "Bush Impeachment Resolution Introduced In Illinois" — Scoop, April 24, 2006
• David Swanson. "California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment" — OpEd News, April 24, 2006

Poll Data

• "Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low" — CBS, Feb. 27, 2006

• "Historical Bush Approval Ratings" — University of Minnesota, April 30, 2006

External links

• Jefferson's Manual (PDF file)