RULES OF IMPEACHMENT

Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges is separate from the act of impeachment itself: impeachment is analogous to indictment in regular court proceedings, trial by the other house is analogous to the trial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial.

At the Federal level, the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching the President, Vice President and all other civil officers of the United States. Officials can be impeached for: "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate.

Impeachment can also occur at the state level; state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors, according to their respective constitutions.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich [D., Ohio] has filed Articles of Impeachment¹ against Vice President Richard B. Cheney. The highlights of his impeachable offenses are listed on THE LIES THEY TELL page. The complete Articles of Impeachment are available as a PDF [to download click here].

For a PDF of the Senate's Rules of Impeachment click here .

[PDFs require Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 click icon for free download]

Number of Senators Currently Backing Impeacment: 34

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has opposed impeachment since May 2006, but this week said that if she were not the Speaker she would probably be backing impeachment, and that impeachment of Gonzales is clearly merited.

Make your voice heard—call your rep today:

Or Call 1800-828-0498 or 1-866-340-9281 for the Congressional Switchboard to reach the Washington Office of any House or Senate Member.

U.S. Cities & States that have voted for Impeachment:

VERMONT—Citing "serious questions of constitutionality" in White House actions, Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.²

URBANA, ILLINOIS—Champaign-Urbana Votes to Withdraw from Iraq and Impeach Bush-Cheney; Other Illinois Cities Vote to Withdraw from Iraq³

WHY WE MUST IMPEACH

The many individual members of Congress, state legislatures and city councils calling for impeachment have cited a long list of other potential impeachable offences:

• Willfully violated their oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
   of the United States.

• Ordered the National Security Agency to violate provisions of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
   Surveillance Act (FISA) [50 U.S.C. Chapter 36], a felony, specifically authorizing the agency
   to spy on American citizens without warrant.

• Committed war crimes as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush
   administration in the war on terrorism.

• Exempted detained Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters from the provisions of the
   Geneva Convention.

• Authorized violation of the Torture Convention of the Geneva Conventions, a treaty regarded
   as supreme law by the United States Constitution.

• Retaliated against critics.

• Held American citizens and citizens of other nations as prisoners of war without formal
   charges, trial or legal representation.

• Leaked classified national secrets to further a political agenda, exposing an unknown
   number of covert United States intelligence agents to potential harm and retribution
   while simultaneously refusing to investigate the matter.

• Authorized, ordered and condoned attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq on civilians,
   civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties are unavoidable.

• Violated international law by threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by    belligerently proclaiming his personal intention to change its government by force.

• Authorized, ordered and condoned violations of rights of individuals under the First, Fourth,
   Fifth, Sixth and Eight Amendments to the Constitution and of the Universal Declaration of
   Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other
   international protections of human rights

• Authorized, directed and condoned bribery and coercion of individuals and governments
   to obtain war ends.

• Was negligent in a slow response to the victims of hurricane Katrina before, during and after.

• Demonstrated a pattern of abuse of office and of executive privilege and contempt for
   the Constitution and our democratic ideals while seeking to expand the powers of
   the presidency.

• Illegally used government funds for domestic political propaganda related to the
   administration's Medicare package, paying commentator Armstrong Williams, etc.

• Used uniformed military personnel for Republican party political purposes.

• Obstructed and hindered the work of Congressional investigative bodies

• Failed to take responsibility for, investigate or discipline those responsible for an
   ongoing pattern of negligence, incompetence and malfeasance to the detriment of the
   American people.

• Violated the letter and spirit of laws and rules of criminal procedure used by civilian
   and military courts, and violated or ignored regulatory codes and practices that carry
   out the law.

• Failed to supply our troops in Iraq with adequate war materials such as body armor,
   armored vehicles and other equipment

• Allowed our maimed and injured troops to be subjected to abhorrent medical care at
   Walter Reed Hospital.

Please visit the links here to get the facts. And pass the URL for this site along to spread the word and encourage more Americans to stand up for our rights, human rights, and the future of our world.

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."   ~ Margaret Mead

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