Tell the House Judiciary Committee to hold Karl Rove in contempt and send him to jail.
Sign the petition.
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“The arc of history shows that governments which serve their own people, survive and thrive. Governments which serve only their own power, do not.”
President Barack Obama during an address in Moscow at the New Economic School, July 07, 2009.
H/T - HoR
"The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights––are not simply words written into aging parchment. They are the foundation of liberty and justice in this country, and a light that shines for all who seek freedom, fairness, equality and dignity in the world."
President Barack Obama during a speech, May 21, 2009.
“Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.”
President Barack Obama during a speech, June 4, 2009.
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7 Comments
July 18, 2008 at 11:07 am
There’s one serious problem with this… Bush would pardon Rove. This is all about perfect timing. We all saw what happened to the traitor “Scooter”. Bush will pardon anyone of his co-conspirators before he leaves office. We have to go after these criminals when Bush is no longer in charge.
July 18, 2008 at 11:25 am
If the House arrests Rove themselves, they can hold him in the jail below the House for the rest of the session until he is ready to talk to them under oath. I already know Bush plans to pardon everyone, but if Rove gets stuck in a cell, perhaps he would roll over and talk. He is the typical schoolyard bully who at the core is a huge coward. He would spill the beans and then we could impeach. Yes timing is everything. If we impeach Bush (and Cheney) at the end, he won’t be able to pardon anyone.
Isn’t that how it works?
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 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 subjected to punishment as the chamber 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, in a Senate investigation of airlines and the U.S. Postmaster. After a one-week trial on the Senate floor (presided over by the Vice-President of the United States, acting as Senate President), William P. MacCracken, a lawyer and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics who had allowed clients to rip up subpoenaed documents, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
MacCracken 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.
Presidential pardons appear not to apply to a civil contempt procedure like the above, since it is not an “offense against the United States” or against “the dignity of public authority.”
In the case of a pardon…
“In the United States, the pardon power for Federal crimes is granted to the President by the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2, which states that the President:
shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. “
There is a way to hold these people to account for all the crimes and wrongdoing they have committed against this nation, but I no longer believe our Congress cares about whether we are a nation of laws any more. I don’t believe they are still willing to fight for the Constitution. I don’t know who they are standing up for, but it certainly isn’t the people of the country or what it stands for (or at least, what it has always stood for).
Our government is broken.
July 18, 2008 at 11:36 am
The more these criminals get away with, the cockier, the more bold and the more empowered them become.
They are effectively thumbing their collective noses at every citizen in this country. They don’t give a flying f*ck about anyone or anything that is important to the survival of this country and all we have worked so hard for. They don’t care about our laws. They don’t care about our Constitution that Americans before us fought and died for so all men could be free. They don’t give a rip how much they take away from the hard working people in this country if it makes them richer and more powerful. These men have the morals of a single grain of sand (if that much).
I can’t believe this is happening to our country. I can’t believe members of Congress are standing by the letting it happen. I feel like I am watching a train wreck in slow motion. I feel like the worst is yet to come..
I pray this country has the strength to survive the damage that these criminals have wrought on us all.
July 18, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I hope that we survive this train wreck. With this disappointing Congress that is only concerned with covering up their own criminal acts, I feel helpless. I’ve called, I’ve written and even met in person with my Congressman all to no avail. He is sticking by Pelosi come hell or high water.
I’m not sure how this inherent consent would work with the traitor Rove. Would he be considered acting against the welfare of our country or would he be considered more in line with a civil issue? Don’t know.
July 18, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I don’t hold much hope for this Congress to do anything meaningful.
July 18, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Cats,
I was contacted by our Congressman’s office (John Hall, NY-19) to see if I would participate inthe filming of a commercial highlighting his support for veterans. I agreed to be in the audience “listening” to him talk because he has been a big supporter of veterans, especially the ones coming back from the current fighting. After I’ve lived up to my part of the bargain and sat for his commercial (they want a bunch of us to sit in the audience), I intend to ask him (if they’ll let me) about why he supoprts Pelosi’s refusal to honor their oaths of office and defend the constitution.
July 18, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Let us know what he says, Wayne. I am dying to know. Hopefully you don’t get brushed off.