Impeachment

The dismissal by the House of Delegates' Democratic leadership of Del. Don Dwyer's motion for a full floor vote on the impeachment of Attorney General Douglas Gansler marks a monumental departure from the law of the land: the Maryland Constitution ("Impeachment effort rejected, April 1). The events that transpired undermine the Maryland Constitution, which the delegates have taken an oath to uphold. The subversive tactics employed by the elected officials are unprecedented and, more to the point, unconstitutional.

Peggy Alley says President Obama should be impeached (Readers respond, Nov. 8). I remind Ms. Alley however, that all the conditions she mentions, including enforcement of immigration laws, existed, and in most cases were created, during the Bush administration. American citizens were losing jobs, having their homes foreclosed on and having to choose between food and prescriptions. Illegal immigrants were coming into the country in record numbers and sending their children to public schools.

A Maryland House of Delegates committee on Wednesday rejected a Republican lawmaker's attempt to impeach the Maryland attorney general over a controversial opinion he recently issued on same-sex marriage. Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County had asked his fellow delegates to initiate the impeachment process for Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, who said Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state. Dwyer believed Gansler wrongly overturned state policy on such unions.

In response to the op-ed "Should Obama walk away?" (Nov. 8), I say President Obama should be impeached for refusing to enforce our federal immigration laws. At a time when American citizens are losing jobs, having their homes foreclosed on and having to make decisions between food and prescriptions, the president is allowing millions of illegal immigrants to sneak into our country, take resources and benefits that belong to citizens and send their children to our already overburdened public school systems.

A House of Delegates committee rejected Wednesday a Republican lawmaker's attempt to impeach Maryland's attorney general over an opinion he issued recently on same-sex marriage. Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County had asked fellow delegates to initiate the impeachment process for Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, who said Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Dwyer says Gansler's opinion wrongly overturned state policy on such unions. The House Judiciary Committee rejected Dwyer's effort, voting 15-5 that Gansler's conduct did not merit impeachment proceedings.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina lawmakers voted down a measure to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday, but recommended a formal rebuke that said his travels and trysts with an Argentine mistress brought the state "ridicule, dishonor, disgrace, and shame not only upon Governor Sanford but upon this state and its citizens." Most of the seven legislative panel members said the Republican should resign, though his affair, use of state planes and a 2008 taxpayer-funded trip to Argentina were not serious misconduct that merited removal from office.

When the textbooks of tomorrow are written, the part about Bill Clinton will almost certainly open with that phrase. His legacy will revolve around the tawdry affair with a young White House intern that led him to become only the second president ever tried for impeachable offenses.But what has been the impact of the Clinton scandal on the rest of us? Have the workings of government been affected? What about the press? The law? The American workplace?As events that became a part of our national consciousness start to recede into memory, members of The Sun's Washington bureau take a look at what's left behind and what has changed, now that the impeachment trial is over.

The Supreme Court ruled recently that all 100 senators do not have to sit as jurors in impeachment trials -- and that the judiciary could not review impeachment procedures, anyway. The justices relied on this language in the Constitution: "The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments." "Sole power to try" seems to us clearly to allow the Senate to devise its own procedures for impeachment trials. It is not so clear that this language also means there can never be judicial review of those procedures.

IN 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached in one of the most outrageous legislative acts in history. Johnson was a grossly unpopular president: a Southern politician who succeeded an assassinated president after the Civil War. Johnson protected his native South from harsh retribution by the so-called Radical Republicans and was widely reviled by the public as pro-Southern. Radical Republicans called for his removal and used his unpopularity to distract the House from its constitutional obligations.

Here is a sampling of calls readers of The Sun made to Sundial, The Sun's telephone information service, concerning the impeachment of President Clinton:"I think this impeachment procedure is absurd. Let every one look back onto the Bible: 'Let him without sin cast the first stone.' Let's get on to other things with the holiday season coming up. I think he's done too much for good for this country, too much to be petty on this other thing." -- Goldie Lyzere, Baltimore area"It's out of control.

T here never was much likelihood that the House of Delegates would impeach Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler for his opinion recommending that Maryland can recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where such unions are legal. As the state's top legal officer, it's part of the attorney general's job to advise the governor and lawmakers on what the law requires. It would be perverse indeed if the lawful performance of that duty were then to become a cause for removing him from office.

The dismissal by the House of Delegates' Democratic leadership of Del. Don Dwyer's motion for a full floor vote on the impeachment of Attorney General Douglas Gansler marks a monumental departure from the law of the land: the Maryland Constitution ("Impeachment effort rejected, April 1). The events that transpired undermine the Maryland Constitution, which the delegates have taken an oath to uphold. The subversive tactics employed by the elected officials are unprecedented and, more to the point, unconstitutional.

A House of Delegates committee rejected Wednesday a Republican lawmaker's attempt to impeach Maryland's attorney general over an opinion he issued recently on same-sex marriage. Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County had asked fellow delegates to initiate the impeachment process for Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, who said Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Dwyer says Gansler's opinion wrongly overturned state policy on such unions. The House Judiciary Committee rejected Dwyer's effort, voting 15-5 that Gansler's conduct did not merit impeachment proceedings.

A Maryland House of Delegates committee on Wednesday rejected a Republican lawmaker's attempt to impeach the Maryland attorney general over a controversial opinion he recently issued on same-sex marriage. Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. of Anne Arundel County had asked his fellow delegates to initiate the impeachment process for Douglas F. Gansler, a Democrat, who said Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state. Dwyer believed Gansler wrongly overturned state policy on such unions.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler was threatened with impeachment by a legislator for his recent opinion on same-sex marriages, and now his office has offered another opinion: The legislature doesn't have the authority to do that. "This is simply ludicrous," Del. Don H. Dwyer said yesterday. The Anne Arundel County Republican had threatened impeachment last week after Gansler issued an opinion that same-sex marriages performed elsewhere should be recognized in Maryland.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina lawmakers voted down a measure to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday, but recommended a formal rebuke that said his travels and trysts with an Argentine mistress brought the state "ridicule, dishonor, disgrace, and shame not only upon Governor Sanford but upon this state and its citizens." Most of the seven legislative panel members said the Republican should resign, though his affair, use of state planes and a 2008 taxpayer-funded trip to Argentina were not serious misconduct that merited removal from office.

WASHINGTON -- When Queen Caroline, consort of King George IV, was accused of adultery, one of her critics made a sardonic salute to some of her defenders: "God save the queen, and may all your wives be like her." A similar toast to Democrats opposed even to a Senate trial for President Clinton: And may all your presidents be like him.Partisan debate about the propriety of a Senate trial proceeds amid bipartisan consensus that there must never be another such president. His fate largely rests with people Democrats praise for their tepid partisanship, people known as "moderate Republicans" and known for inconsistency.

WASHINGTON -- Rahm Emanuel is one of those windup dolls the president has been sending forth for seven months to deny the obvious. ("Did he have sex? No. Sexual relations? No.") But Emanuel is magnanimous: "I'm not owed an apology."Earth to Emanuel: What about the apology you owe the public, on whose payroll you have been while insulting the public's intelligence?Compassion being the defining virtue of an age dubious about all other virtues, Mr. Emanuel is presented as a victim, of Bill Clinton, just as Mr. Clinton presents himself as a victim (of Ken Starr and others disrespectful of Mr. Clinton's family values)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate voted to remove Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich from office yesterday, marking the first time in the state's long history of political corruption that a chief executive has been impeached and convicted. The 59-0 vote followed several hours of public deliberation in which senator after senator stood up to blast Blagojevich, whose tenure lasted six years. And it came after a four-day impeachment trial on allegations that Blagojevich abused his power and sold his office for personal and political benefit.