Recall as alternative to impeachment?
| By A E Blackwell - Sep 4th, 2007 at 12:30 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Douglas County |
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Categories: Effective & Ethical Government, Separation of Powers / Federalism
Categories: Effective & Ethical Government, Separation of Powers / Federalism
Although there are Constitutional measures for impeachment and, upon conviction, removal of federal officials from office, such provisions require Congress to do its Constitutional duty. If Congress shirks due diligence when bribery, treason, and/or high crimes and misdemeanors are afoot, the People have little recourse. (In my mind the words of Rep. Conyers reverberate, about how he's sure that hearings of Bush and Cheney would reveal high crimes and misdemeanors -- but that there's not enough time or enough votes to proceed.)
The People could insist on an additional process of removal from office.
A historically proposed means of removing the President, Vice President, and other civil officials from office is the recall. Advocated by Populists and Progressives in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this
method was eventually rejected on the national level (although other proposed Populist and Progressive reforms, such as direct election of US Senators, fundamentally changed US politics). Yet the recall has been used successfully in states and municipalities. For a general discussion of recall by the National Conference of State Legislatures, please see the following link.
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/recallprovision.htm
The federal recall push of yore has relevance today. If enough US citizens want to amend the US Constitution to include the right of recall of federal officials, they can urge their own state legislators to petition for a US Constitutional convention to propose such an amendment. This is a power granted to state legislatures by Article V of the US Constitution -- an alternative path to amending the Constitution. I've included the text of Article V and analysis thereof from the US Senate's website.
Excerpted from
www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a5
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no
Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Analysis from the Senate's website:
The Constitution may be amended in two ways. The standard device, used for all amendments so far, is for both houses of Congress to pass by two-thirds vote a proposal, which they send to the states for
ratification, either by state legislatures or by conventions within the states. An amendment is ratified when three-fourths of the states approve. The Constitution also authorizes a national convention,
when two-thirds of the states petition Congress for such a convention, to propose amendments, which would also have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.
If you are in favor of amending the US Constitution to include the right of recall of federal officials, then urge your Colorado senator and representative to invoke the state legislature's power (given in the US Constitution's Article V) to petition the US Congress for a US Constitutional convention. We would need two-thirds of the state legislatures's participation, so spread the word to the People in other states.
The People could insist on an additional process of removal from office.
A historically proposed means of removing the President, Vice President, and other civil officials from office is the recall. Advocated by Populists and Progressives in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this
method was eventually rejected on the national level (although other proposed Populist and Progressive reforms, such as direct election of US Senators, fundamentally changed US politics). Yet the recall has been used successfully in states and municipalities. For a general discussion of recall by the National Conference of State Legislatures, please see the following link.
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/recallprovision.htm
The federal recall push of yore has relevance today. If enough US citizens want to amend the US Constitution to include the right of recall of federal officials, they can urge their own state legislators to petition for a US Constitutional convention to propose such an amendment. This is a power granted to state legislatures by Article V of the US Constitution -- an alternative path to amending the Constitution. I've included the text of Article V and analysis thereof from the US Senate's website.
Excerpted from
www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a5
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no
Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Analysis from the Senate's website:
The Constitution may be amended in two ways. The standard device, used for all amendments so far, is for both houses of Congress to pass by two-thirds vote a proposal, which they send to the states for
ratification, either by state legislatures or by conventions within the states. An amendment is ratified when three-fourths of the states approve. The Constitution also authorizes a national convention,
when two-thirds of the states petition Congress for such a convention, to propose amendments, which would also have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.
If you are in favor of amending the US Constitution to include the right of recall of federal officials, then urge your Colorado senator and representative to invoke the state legislature's power (given in the US Constitution's Article V) to petition the US Congress for a US Constitutional convention. We would need two-thirds of the state legislatures's participation, so spread the word to the People in other states.
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