Imperial Presidency
Last Friday on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee weighed in on “executive power and its constitutional limits” in an inconsequential discussion of King George’s imperial presidency.
There would be no vote on impeachment, no discussion of the dereliction of Congressional duty, and no Ralph Nader.
Ralph Nader, who has long championed the necessity of impeachment for W’s repeated, defiant high crimes and misdemeanors, was not invited to testify at the Rayburn Building on Friday morning. Writer DC Larson summed the situation up, proclaiming that the “Democrat-led Congress are as unconcerned about political justice as is any neo-con in Rupert Murdoch's Rolodex.”
The Nader campaign was there to observe, along with hundreds of other concerned citizens, but couldn’t crack the guest-list, despite a run-in with Ms. Kucinich . Only 16 individuals were granted admission into the hall to observe testimony from the following witnesses:
Panel I:
Hon. Dennis Kucinich
U.S. House of Representatives
10th District, OH
Hon. Maurice Hinchey
U.S. House of Representatives
22nd District, NY
Hon. Walter Jones
U.S. House of Representatives
3rd District, NC
Hon. Brad Miller
U.S. House of Representatives
13th District, NC
Panel II:
Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman
Former U.S. House of Representatives
16th District, NY
Department of Justice
Hon. Bob Barr
Former U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
7th District, GA
Hon. Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson
Founder and President
High Roads for Human Rights
Stephen Presser
Raoul Berer Professor of Legal History
Northwestern University School of Law
Bruce Fein
Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82
Chairman, American Freedom Agenda
Vincent Bugliosi
Author and Former Los Angeles County Prosecutor
Jeremy A. Rabkin
Professor of Law
George Mason University School of Law
Elliott Adams
President of the Board
Veterans for Peace
Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr.
Senior Counsel
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Said Chairman John Conyers with regard to his committee’s inaction, “we are not done yet, and we do not intend to go away until we achieve the accountability that Congress is entitled to and the American people deserve.”
Let’s hold Congress to this.
Let’s reclaim the Constitution.
Let’s start now.
Onward.
--
Jonathan Duckles
DC Volunteer Coordinator
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Note: By submitting your comments you acknowledge that Nader for President 2008 has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that due to the volume of comments we receive, not all comments will be published and it may take several hours for your comments to be reviewed, and those that are published will not be edited. But all will be carefully read, considered and appreciated.
Your comment will be visible to you (and only you) after you post it, at which point it is queued for consideration and no longer visible. Please refrain from submitting your comments multiple times.
