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Impeachment: Always an Option
Wallbuilders ^ | 2002 | David Barton

Posted on 03/24/2005 4:09:38 PM PST by ManHunter

The Founders' intent for impeachment was to protect the fundamental principle of “the consent of the governed.” The Constitution carries no title but “We the People,” and impeachment removes from office those officials who ignore that standard. (Recall that the Constitution does not guarantee a federal judge his position for life, but only for the duration of “good behavior.” Art. III, Sec. 1)

For this reason impeachment was used whenever judges disregarded public interests, affronted the will of the people, or introduced arbitrary power by seizing the role of policy-maker. Previous generations used this tool far more frequently than today's generation; and because the grounds for impeachment were deliberately kept broad, articles of impeachment have described everything from drunkenness and profanity to judicial high-handedness and bribery as reasons for removal from the bench. (Sixty-one federal judges or Supreme Court Justices have been investigated for impeachment, of whom thirteen have been impeached and seven convicted.)

Today's judiciary, not having experienced any serious threat of impeachment as judges in earlier generations, repeatedly flaunts its contempt for the will of the people. It recently has overturned direct elections in Washington, New York, California, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, etc., simply because it preferred a different outcome. This is not to suggest that the results of all citizen elections are final and infallible, for it is the duty of the Court to protect the Constitution. However, the above elections violated at most the judiciary's ideological leanings rather than any manifest provision of the Constitution (e.g., English as a State's official language, ending government assistance for illegal immigrants, enacting term-limits, prohibiting physician-assisted suicides).

For full text, go to link.

(Excerpt) Read more at wallbuilders.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: davidbarton; impeachment; judges; moneychangerintemple; pharisee; separationofpowers
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To: SedVictaCatoni
Perhaps if the "Governed" are so outraged by Terri Schiavo's case, they should petition the Florida legislature to change the law which Judge Greer has no choice but to follow.

That makes sense.
It is time to rewrite the laws to prevent this chaos in the future, not time to tear down the system.

SO9

41 posted on 03/24/2005 6:22:28 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Texas Songwriter
Answer one thing for me. If one cedes to you that the judiciary followed the law as they see it, does it matter to you how this woman dies? That is to say, it is ok with you that we are dehydrating her unto death? You good with that?

No.
Anyone who has made the choice not to live, and that is what the court found she had done, true or not, deserves a jolt of morphine big enough to kill them instantly and painllessly.
Tell me how to get that legalized and I will be a happy man.
I don't look forward to dieing like that, but living as she is would be worse.

42 posted on 03/24/2005 6:28:07 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Servant of the 9
It is time to rewrite the laws to prevent this chaos in the future, not time to tear down the system.

Your faith that the judiciary will respect the law is touching, but misplaced.

43 posted on 03/24/2005 6:39:09 PM PST by Logophile
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To: Servant of the 9

Based upon the heresay of 1 person who is conflicted by having taken up with another woman and been paid 1 million dollars for rehab of Terri and spent none. To deny these mitigating circumstances is to state the obvious of the pretext which is the intent to kill another person. Many affidavits of direct observers are on record, medical experts, and Greer capriciously dismissed these sworn statements. It at least demands what Congress demanded, a denovo examination of the facts..all of the facts.


44 posted on 03/24/2005 7:16:33 PM PST by Texas Songwriter (.)
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To: ManHunter

David Barton is a hero of the faith. I'd lie down in traffic for the man. Thanks for the post.


45 posted on 03/24/2005 7:18:09 PM PST by Zack Nguyen (parties.)
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To: Logophile
Your faith that the judiciary will respect the law is touching, but misplaced.

Well, we have excellent evidence - in this case, Judge Greer is following the law of Florida, despite hectoring, death threats, federal pressure, and public jeering. It appears that he respects the law and opposes judicial activism.

46 posted on 03/24/2005 7:52:19 PM PST by SedVictaCatoni (<><)
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To: COEXERJ145

Congress can't remove Greer as he is a state judge, not a federal one. It would be up to the Florida legislature to remove him.

Florida..............get-er-done!


47 posted on 03/24/2005 8:19:01 PM PST by Ethyl (T)
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To: sinkspur

Why should judges be immune from performance evaluations?
Florida Circuit judges ARE subject to performance evaluations. They have to run for election, every four years.

Greer was re-elected overwhelmingly, in 2004.


Well, you know what to do next time he is up for election. Get-er-done


48 posted on 03/24/2005 8:29:12 PM PST by Ethyl (T)
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To: Texas Songwriter
Based upon the heresay of 1 person who is conflicted

Three others testified at the hearing that Terri had also told them she did not wish to live if in this condition.
The idea that it was an unsubstantiated statement by her husband is a lie started by the Right-To-Life whackos.

Her father on the other hand testified that he would cut her arms and legs off and put her on a respirator if it would keep her alive.
He further testified he would put in a feeding tube even if she had left a Living Will prohibiting it.
He is unfit to have custody of a Chia Pet, much less his daughter.
They don't give a shit about Terry, only their own feelings.

So9

49 posted on 03/24/2005 8:35:26 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: SedVictaCatoni
Well, we have excellent evidence - in this case, Judge Greer is following the law of Florida, despite hectoring, death threats, federal pressure, and public jeering. It appears that he respects the law and opposes judicial activism.

Even if I were to accept your characterization of Judge Greer's behavior in this case, you are missing the larger point. So9 proposed rewriting laws to avoid "chaos in the future." However, we have little reason to suppose that judges will respect new laws any more than they did the old ones. It is too tempting to legislate from the bench according to one's perceptions of "penumbras and emanations."

50 posted on 03/24/2005 8:58:28 PM PST by Logophile
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To: ManHunter

But if not now, when?


51 posted on 03/24/2005 9:08:54 PM PST by cookcounty (Just wondering: How much weight will the great International Justice Kennedy give the Vatican?)
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To: Servant of the 9

Seven convicted. And even when convicted they are still eligible to run for office. One of those seven is, in fact, a congress critter. For 2 points, name that critter. For 5, name the cause of the critter's removal from a Federal judgeship.


52 posted on 03/24/2005 9:09:47 PM PST by Vigilanteman (crime would drop like a sprung trapdoor if we brought back good old-fashioned hangings)
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To: DelaWhere

Why have we not heard this before? Why don't you have a source?


53 posted on 03/24/2005 9:13:39 PM PST by cookcounty (Just wondering: How much weight will the great International Justice Kennedy give the Vatican?)
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To: Servant of the 9
They don't give a shit about Terry, only their own feelings.

And exactly what are their feelings? Do you know?

54 posted on 03/24/2005 9:16:55 PM PST by Logophile
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To: JOE43270

Neither "Congress" nor the President has anything to do with Greer. He is a state circuit judge.


55 posted on 03/24/2005 10:52:39 PM PST by KC Burke (Men of intemperate minds can never be free....)
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To: ManHunter

We all know how the impeachment of Clinton went down. /s


56 posted on 03/25/2005 1:40:28 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (You have a //cuckoo// God given right //Yeeeahrgh!!// to be an //Hello?// atheist)
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To: infidel29
The feds could do the same to the 11th Circuit court that turned the Schindlers down.

That won't change the fact the Schindler lawyers are incompetant as hell.

57 posted on 03/25/2005 1:41:59 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (You have a //cuckoo// God given right //Yeeeahrgh!!// to be an //Hello?// atheist)
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To: Vigilanteman
One of those seven is, in fact, a congress critter. For 2 points, name that critter. For 5, name the cause of the critter's removal from a Federal judgeship.

Rep. Alcee Hastings of Flori-duh.
Taking a payoff in drug cases, later overturned.

SO9

58 posted on 03/25/2005 5:50:12 AM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Logophile
And exactly what are their feelings? Do you know?

Te same grief I will have when my Pekingese dies.
Grief for losing a dumb animal they cared about.

So9

59 posted on 03/25/2005 5:52:04 AM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Servant of the 9
Te same grief I will have when my Pekingese dies. Grief for losing a dumb animal they cared about.

In other words, you do not know what you are talking about. You do not know the Schindler family or what motivates them, yet you are willing to defame them. Your stupid reference to the death of a pet is as poorly thought out as your other posts on this thread, showing little understanding of the issues and even less consideration for those involved.

In short, you are just another foulmouthed twit with nothing to say.

60 posted on 03/25/2005 10:21:11 AM PST by Logophile
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