Can the Senate leadership be impeached for failure to execute their duties?

self

[Steely eyed killer of the deep]

Can the Senate leadership be impeached for failure to execute their duties? Harry Reid, Max Baucus and Kent Conrad haven't passed a budget in over 1,000 days. Can the House impeach them?

[tom paine 2]

How about we just go down to DC and make a citizens arrest?

[Sacajaweau]

What....You want them to use real numbers. With no budget, they can cook the books any way they want.

[Reagan69]

Even if they could be, who would do it???

Boner ????

[Wings-n-Wind]

Unless a member or a group of Senators raises the question of the Constitutional negligence of the Senate, or violating paerticular Senate rules...

I believe it is up to the voters of respective state(s) to recall their respective member(s) of the Senate.

Pretty sure the HoR as a legislative body is "locked out" of intruding on proceedings in the Senate.

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That said....

If they really wanted to shine the light on "the real problem"...

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Some aggressive moves in the arena of public opinion bia the blogosphere and new media outlets would at least turn up the heat!

"Shine the light -- the 'Rats will scatter!"

[Prospero]

The short answer to your question is, no.

The political answer to your question is that the voters can "impeach" their own Senators and Representatives every November.

[plsjr]

My read of the Constitution is that (if there was the political will) the U.S. House of Representatives could draw up and pass Articles of Impeachment for individuals in the Senate, to include the leadership. (What Constitutional amendment “locks out the HoR”? - correction welcomed!)

AND (if there was the political will) the Senate could try the impeachment and vote to remove the offenders from office...

But if they won’t even hold the current executive accountable for the innumerable violations of law it’s committed, do you think they’ll self police?

[cotton1706]

The house of representatives has absolutely no power whatsoever to charge, try or remove any member of the other legislative body.

[G Larry]

7 Retiring Dems
16 up for re-election

Replace half of these guys with Republicans and you won’t have to worry about Senate “leadership”!

10 more Conservatives would also send Mitch a message and possibly get him replaced with somebody stronger.

[wrencher]

Who is going to impeach them, they all belong to the same party, Dems & Pubs alike. The Ivy League Lawyer Incumbency Party.

[Michael Barnes]

Replace half of these guys with Republicans

Maybe TEA Party members, but straight up Republicans is just shifting the problem.

[Jim Noble]

Can the Senate leadership be impeached for failure to execute their duties?

Nope.

[Jim Noble]

My read of the Constitution is that (if there was the political will) the U.S. House of Representatives could draw up and pass Articles of Impeachment for individuals in the Senate, to include the leadership. (What Constitutional amendment “locks out the HoR”? - correction welcomed!)

Article I§5: "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member

Article I§6; "...and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."

Article II§4: "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 (Senators and Members of Congress are not "civil officers of the United States").

Article III§1: "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour".

Nothing in there could possibly allow the House to punish a Senator.

[DustyMoment]

The House can impeach anyone. The problem is that the dem-controlled Senate won’t convict a Dem.

That’s why 0bama is still in the WH. It would be Bill Clinton all over again.

[molson209]

Is Harry Reid sick , last week he lips were very blue and yesterday his face looked very puffy , would he be on meds

[G Larry]

Did you not see the 2nd line in my post?

“10 more Conservatives would also send Mitch a message and possibly get him replaced with somebody stronger.”

You also can’t stay on this jag about “10 people more conservative than me, or nothing!”

We didn’t get in this pit all at once and we’re not getting out in one step either.

[plsjr]

Nothing in there could possibly allow the House to punish a Senator.

Impeachment is not punishment, only removal from office. Punishment is reserved for the courts.

The House is responsible for approving articles of impeachment (charges). Two thirds of the senate is responsible for convicting based on those articles, which results in removal from office.


U.S. Constitution - Article Two, Section 4 :

"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."

I believe "all civil Officers of the United States" includes members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. I'm would like to hear arguments otherwise.


From Wikipedia:
"The House of Representatives did impeach a senator once:[7] Senator William Blount, in 1798. The Senate expelled Senator Blount and, after initially hearing his impeachment, dismissed the charges for lack of jurisdiction.[8] Left unsettled was the question whether members of Congress were civil officers of the United States. [ed. this is Wikipedia - plsjr<><] The House has not impeached a Member of Congress since Blount. As each House has the authority to expel its own members without involving the other chamber, expulsion has been the method used for removing Members of Congress.

Jefferson's Manual, which is integral to the Rules of the House of Representatives,[9] states that impeachment is set in motion by charges made on the floor, charges preferred by a memorial, a member's resolution referred to a committee, a message from the president, charges transmitted from the legislature of a state or territory or from a grand jury, or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House. It further states that a proposition to impeach is a question of high privilege in the House and at once supersedes business otherwise in order under the rules governing the order of business."

Not knowing the Articles of Impeachment passed by the House in the Blount case, I can't say whether jurisdiction was the issue or that the Senate decided for honor's (or shame's) sake to limit the spectacle.

Given there are two methods for removing a civil officer (member of congress) from his/her post, either one serves.

[Let_It_Be_So]

Bottom line is that it’s up to the electorate to populate the Congress (both House and Senate) with enough conservatives to render the current scenario moot.

We cannot be focused on any given personality (Pelosi, Reid, et al) since it is the ideology of the party in power that determines who will be the “face” of that party. If Reid were to be voted out, and the party were to remain in the majority, another ideologue as bad as Reid (or worse) would become the new face.

[Wings-n-Wind]

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I know it's really bad when HR is OFF HIS MEDS...

That's all....

[Wings-n-Wind]

Article I, Section 5, 2nd Paragraph:

Each House may determine the Rules of it Proceedings, punish its members for disorderly Behaviour, and with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

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