National Lawyer’s Guild to vote on broad impeachment resolution on November 1st

The following will be voted on at the NLG convention starting November 1 in Washington, DC, where Rep. John Conyers will be the keynote speaker.
Resolution on Impeachment of Bush and Cheney
Whereas George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney:
1. deliberately misled the nation and doctored intelligence, as described in the Downing Street
minutes, http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memos.html about the threat from Iraq in order to
justify a war of aggression and an occupation of Iraq, as further described in House resolution H.
Res. 333 http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int3.pdf
and as listed in House Resolution H. Res. 635
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr109-635
2. committed crimes against peace by initiating war against Iraq in violation of the UN Charter
http://www.worldpress.org/specials/iraq/;
3. committed crimes against humanity in their conduct of the occupation of Iraq in which they
killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and created millions of
refugees http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1892888,00.html and
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/13/iraq.main/index.html;
4. killed over 3700 American soldiers and severely wounded nearly 30,000 more in the pursuit of
an illegal, immoral, and unjust occupation of Iraq. While Bush and Cheney have stated no
truthful noble cause for the war, one of the central purposes appears to be to take control of Iraq’s
immense oil reserves to financially benefit private corporate interests. See Bush’s benchmark
listing fact sheet released the same day Bush announced the “surge” that expressly called on the
Iraq parliament to “enact hydrocarbons law to promote investment . . . “
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070110-3.html and
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/56672/;
5. committed further crimes against peace by threatening Iran in violation of the UN Charter, as
described in House resolution H. Res. 333 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgibin/query/z?c110:H.RES.333: and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6649053.stm;
6. detained thousands of prisoners without charges and without providing the ability to confront
their accusers at a fair trial http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Regions/Americas/United-States-of-America;
7. condoned the torture of prisoners in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the US anti-torture
statute of 1994, the US War Crimes Act of 1996, and the oath of office
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/24/usint8614.htm and
http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Regions/Americas/United-States-of-Americ a and
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/24/bush_shuns_patriot_act_requirement/.
Bush’s refusal to faithfully execute the laws prohibiting torture and his declaration on February 7,
2002 that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to prisoners in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo
set the stage for torture there http://hrw.org/reports/2004/usa0604/2.htm. The Rumsfeld approved
Guantanamo torture techniques were then imported to Iraq in August 2003, where the
International Committee of the Red Cross found “systemic” mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in
several facilities and where the Schlesinger Report confirmed in August 2004 that abuses were
“widespread” and “serious both in number and in effect,” and that there is both “institutional and
personal responsibility at higher levels;”
8. approved at least two different illegal electronic surveillance programs of American citizens
without a warrant in violation of the fourth amendment and in violation of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and repeatedly lied to the American people by stating that
no surveillance was taking place without a court order. The first program includes intercepting
phone and email conversations without warrants and was exposed by the NY Times on December
16, 2005 http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/CPC/NYT_15cnd-program.html. After that program
was exposed Bush said the program was carefully targeted to just include international calls and
suspected members of Al Qaeda. Then, the second program was exposed by USA Today on May
11, 2006. It provides a wholesale attack on the fourth amendment by recording call identification
information of tens of millions of purely domestic calls as well as international calls
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm;
9. attacked basic human rights protections in the constitution including habeas corpus, fifth
amendment freedom from loss of life, liberty and property without due process of law, eighth
amendment freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and fourth amendment freedom from
unreasonable search and seizure;
10. attacked the separation of powers in an effort to consolidate power in the executive;
11. attacked the messenger who revealed that Bush “twisted” intelligence “to exaggerate the Iraqi
threat.” Just as Nixon retaliated against former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg, according to papers filed in court by special
prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in April 2006, there was “concerted action” by “multiple people in
the White House” to “discredit, punish or seek revenge against” former Ambassador Joseph
Wilson for his July 6, 2003 NY Times op ed piece
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html?ex=1372824000&en=6c6aeb1ce960dec0&ei=5007
that ripped the cover off of Bush’s false assertions in his 2003 state of the union
address that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Africa for building a nuclear bomb. In
retaliation, and to silence other would-be critics, the White House collected information about
Wilson and disclosed to reporters that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert agent in the CIA
counterinsurgency division, putting her life, and the lives of her contacts, at risk in violation of a
US law protecting intelligence personnel (The Impeachment of George W. Bush, by Elizabeth
Holtzman);
12. as the sole person under the Federal Stafford Act with responsibility and authority to issue
emergency orders to mobilize the military and any federal resources needed to aid and assist in a
disaster (see Failure of Initiative, February 2006 report of the House Select Bipartisan
Committee to investigate the Preparations for and the Response to Hurricane Katrina
http://katrina.house.gov/), Bush failed to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, violated
the public trust, and demonstrated reckless and inexcusable indifference to human life before,
during and after Hurricane Katrina. Bush knew but did not act until too late, and then he lied
about it on national TV. Footage and transcripts from briefings Aug. 25-31 demonstrate that
Bush was personally told well in advance of the “unprecedented strength” of the hurricane, the
“devastating damage expected,” and that “water shortages will make human suffering
incredible,” according to highly accurate predictions by the National Weather Service. The
Associated Press reported that “in dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster
officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck
that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm
rescuers, according to confidential video footage,”
http://www.truthout.org/cgibin/artman/exec/view.cgi/47/18079. Yet Bush failed to muster
resources to evacuate residents in advance and failed to assist New Orleans residents after
Hurricane Katrina hit. Then three days later Bush told Good Morning America, “I don’t think
that anybody anticipated a breach of the levees.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030202130.html
In years before the storm Bush demonstrated inexcusable criminal negligence and violated the
public trust by cutting the budget for hurricane defense, though the high probability of the
breaching of the levees and the enormous risk to human life from a major hurricane hitting New
Orleans were predicted and well known for years before the hurricane hit
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/index.html;
13. failed to take care that the laws be faithfully executed by issuing signing statements
that claim the authority to disobey laws based on the president’s own interpretation of their
constitutionality, and then by taking action in violation of these laws, including the US law
making torture a crime, laws regarding Congressional oversight that require providing
information to Congress, laws regarding domestic spying, laws regarding civil liberties, and laws
strengthening whistle blower protection, thereby expanding the president’s own power by
stepping into the legislative and judicial functions at the expense of Congress and the
courts, upsetting the balance among the three branches of government, and moving us away from
the rule of law toward vastly increased executive power;
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/ and
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/24/bush_shuns_patriot_act_requirement/;
14. converted the Justice Department into an arm of the Republican Party by firing meritorious
federal prosecutors who refused to base decisions on whom to prosecute on political
considerations–to help Republicans win election, an offense James Madison discussed in a
speech to the Senate on June 17, 1789, in which Madison said, “The danger then consists merely in
this, the president can displace from office a man whose merits require that he should be continued in it.
What will be the motives which the president can feel for such abuse of his power, and the restraints that
operate to prevent it? In the first place, he will be impeachable by this house, before the senate, for such
an act of mal-administration; for I contend that the wanton removal of meritorious officers would subject
him to impeachment and removal from his own high
trust.” http://www.gwu.edu/~ffcp/mep/displaydoc.cfm?docid=fc11904
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/113/print/;
15. condoned criminal conduct and obstructed justice by commuting the sentence of convicted
perjurer Scooter Libby to keep him silent and to demonstrate that Bush and Cheney will not
allow high officials in the administration to be held accountable for their criminal acts;
16. obstructed congressional investigations of these and other acts by the administration by
defying subpoenas from Senate and House committees seeking documents and testimony under
oath by administration officials and former administration officials; and
Whereas the constitution requires the president to take the following oath of office: “I do
solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and
will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States;”
and
Whereas the constitution provides that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully
executed;” and
Whereas the constitution mandates that “the President, Vice President and all civil Officers of
the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors;” and
Whereas impeachment was so important to our founding fathers that it is mentioned six times in
five different sections of the constitution; and
Whereas George Mason, a primary author of the Constitution, said that impeachment was the
single most important part of the entire document. “Shall any man be above Justice? Above all
shall that man be above it who can commit the most extensive injustice?”
http://gunstonhall.org/georgemason/constitution.html July 20, 1787; and
Whereas “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” is a term of art that means a serious abuse of power,
whether or not it is also a crime, that endangers our constitutional system of government, or an
abuse of public trust. (See Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment: Report of the House
Judiciary Committee, 1974,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/special/clinton/stories/watergatedoc_3.htm,
articles by Elizabeth Holzman who served on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment
hearings of Richard Nixon in 1974 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman; and
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070212&s=holtzman, and the book, The
Impeachment of George W. Bush, by Elizabeth Holtzman)
Whereas each of the above listed acts meets or exceeds that standard; and
Whereas impeachment is the only constitutional method to protect Americans from a president
intent on abusing power, violating the constitution, violating the laws, and breaching public trust;
and
Whereas Bush and Cheney threaten further crimes, including launching a war of aggression
against Iran, and whereas sufficient time remains in their term of office for them to commit those
crimes so allowing either or both of them to remain in office for that remaining time will
facilitate these crimes, and whereas pretexts for attacking Iran have been issued, as described by
a former CIA Middle East field officer and current Time Magazine columnist
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1654188,00.html; and
Whereas failing to hold Bush and Cheney accountable not only condones their crimes but
facilitates a future president committing similar or greater crimes; and
Whereas members of Congress swear an oath to “support and defend the constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and no part of this oath permits
exception for partisan advantage, the next election, political expediency, whether it is distracting
from other issues, or how much time they have left in office; and
Whereas failure by Congress to initiate the one remedy–impeachment–provided by our
founding fathers to protect the constitution from such serious abuses has put that constitution, the
rule of law, civil liberties, our democratic form of government, the separation of powers, the
lives of our men and women in uniform, and the lives of countless civilians at severe risk; and
Whereas citizen pressure led the Vermont State Senate and 87 cities and towns around the
nation to pass impeachment resolutions; and
Whereas a poll conducted by http://www.americanresearchgroup.com on July 5, 2007 found that
54% of American adults want the US House of Representatives to begin impeachment
proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney while only 40% oppose, and whereas the poll
also found that 45% are in favor of the same thing for President George W. Bush while 46%
oppose; and
Whereas in view Congress’ ongoing complicity with the war, the torture, the lies, the warrantless
wiretapping, and the imprisonment without trial, and its failure to protect rights and civil
liberties, it is up to the people themselves to defend the constitution and our civil liberties by
building larger grassroots movements, including a movement for impeachment;
Therefore be it resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls upon the U.S. House of
Representatives to immediately initiate impeachment proceedings, to investigate the charges, and
if the investigation supports the charges, to vote to impeach George W. Bush and Richard B.
Cheney as provided in the Constitution of the United States of America; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will establish an NLG Impeachment
Committee open to all members to coordinate action by the NLG in support of impeachment, to
work with national and grassroots impeachment organizations, and to provide legal assistance for
those efforts to strengthen the national campaign for impeachment; and
Be it further resolved that the NLG Impeachment Committee will help organize and coordinate
events at the local, state, and national level to build public participation in the campaign to
initiate impeachment investigation, impeachment, and removal of Bush and Cheney from office
without further delay; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on NLG members to ask their
respective member of Congress to support H. Res. 333 to impeach Cheney and to introduce or
support other impeachment resolutions; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on all other state and national bar
associations, state and local government bodies, community organizations, labor unions, and all
other citizen associations to adopt similar resolutions and to use all their resources to build the
campaign demanding that Congress initiate impeachment investigation, impeach, and remove
Bush and Cheney from office without further delay; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will forward a copy of this resolution to
the Speaker and the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, to Representative John Conyers,
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to the various state and federal bar associations, to
other peace and justice organizations, and to the news media.
Implementation: By the NLG Impeachment Committee established by this resolution, by
interested local chapters, and by national officers.
Submitted by: James Marc Leas, [email protected]
The resolution cosponsors are:
Audrey Bomse, Marjorie Cohn, Laura Safer Espinoza, John Wheat Gibson, Eileen Hansen,
Larry Hildes, Jim Klimaski, Jordan Kushner, Jim Lafferty, James Marc Leas, Kerry McLean,
Bill Monning, Dorinda Moreno, Michael Ratner, Susan Scott, Jennifer Van Bergen, Aaron
Varhola, Karen Weill