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Impeachment (3118) Bush GW (2203) Bush Reasons To Dump Impeach (1870) Constitution In Crisis (441) Constitutional Issues (430)
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The following is from a report written and released by the Judiciary Committee in 1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate crisis. In the [Constitutional] convention George Mason argued that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection." James Madison responded: [I]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty... Madison went on to [say] contrary to his position in the Philadelphia convention, that the President could be suspended when suspected, and his powers would devolve on the Vice President, who could likewise be suspended until impeached and convicted, if he were also suspected.
David Waldman is a Contributing Editor blogging as Kagro X at DailyKos.com, the largest and most visited political blog in the world. A non-practicing attorney, a former Capitol Hill aide, his online work includes a comprehensive study of the Senate's "nuclear option," written at TheNextHurrah.com.
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