Impeachment Clearly Spelled Out In Constitution

It is likely that most Americans do not know that our Constitution is the Law of the Land. It is also likely that they have never even read the Constitution and, therefore, don’t have a clue when it comes to who can be impeached and how impeachment was designed to be rightfully implemented. This article was written to demonstrate how our Constitution was and is meant to work.

This writer often turns to his copy of The Heritage Guide to The Constitution to pursue the founders gift of personal liberty the likes of which is not experienced in any other country in the world. This book has opened doors of understanding every single time he has visited it. This activity does not make this writer a scholar by any stretch of imagination, but it has done wonders for his blood pressures especially when he looks to escape the yelling, verbal drums and lighted torches used by those who practice law by public opinion and those who practice law for mass media profit and most certainly those who practice law for personal and party political power.

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 2, Clause 5) states: “The House of Representatives…shall have sole power of Impeachment.”

Constitutional Fact Source (Article II, Section 4) states: "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.” Yes, you read that correctly. This language includes Justices of the Supreme Court and the lesser courts mentioned in the Constitution. Clearly, Supreme Court Justices can be impeached. Members of Congress can be expelled by their own respective body. The House of Representatives initiates the charges of Impeachment and it is the Senate which hears the charges and decides the outcome.

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 6) states:"The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”

Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7) states: “Punishment for Impeachment” “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to remove from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust or Profit Under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”

Constitutional Fact Source ( Article II, Section 4) states: “Standards for Impeachment”  “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.”

So that there is absolutely no mistake of what is suggested below, please reread Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 2, Clause 5) above and then reread Constitutional Fact Source (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7). The language used in the Constitution is not accidental. Understand clearly that this writer is specifically not talking about the possible Impeachment of the President. He has pointedly led you toward a better understanding of a potential Impeachment of a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court and the fact that an Impeachment in the House of Representatives and a conviction in the Senate opens wide the door to further adjudication in the lesser courts. It is also a fact that the Federal Judges in lesser courts can also be Impeached and Judged.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated by our current President of the United States to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is, therefore, seeking confirmation for this position and is enduring the most negative and brutal hearing of any candidate in this writer’s life time. In addition to this trial of confirmation Kavanaugh is now facing another trial. It is a trial of accusation. He has become the target of chest beating and cries of anguish because an individual person has stepped from the darkness of his past and made an accusation of sexual impropriety. Act wisely here and now and answer the following two questions. Do you really believe that this accomplished man does not know full well the meaning and the implications of the words this writer has just shared with you? Do you really believe he would stand in front of you personally, or his accuser or his God and deny a truthful accusation? This writer does not. He has already served, with distinction this nation’s second highest court and he deserves this honor and he should be confirmed without further rancor.

Consider how you can step forward and help stop this nation weakening side show immediately. If the accuser has a case it can always be presented through proper channels to the House of Representatives and if it really is a valid case, it should be pursued. We must understand and trust that our Constitution will guide the way to proper resolution for all. We are a nation of Laws. Let our Constitution, our greatest law, do what it was designed to do.

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do little.” Sydney Smith

I am

The words “I am” have continued to roll around in my head for several days now. Apparently, I have commenced another walkabout. This particular walkabout began as I watched and listened to a well known conservative spokesman on television. During that program, he spoke a two word sentence that resonated deep within me. The sentence was “I am”. For some reason, which is still not clear, what he said after that did not seem to matter. His voice faded to silence in my head and I turned off the television and turned inward in search of those two words.

Almost immediately I recalled a quotation that ended with those same two words. The Rene Descartes quotation “I think, therefore I am” seemed to be a path to follow and I began to walk. Any further exploration of Descartes is not in the cards for this essay. However, I encourage you to take some time to explore a little of his life and works to remind yourself of what you already know or discover him for the first time.

My daughter listened carefully when I told her I was busy thinking about ‘I am’. She quickly gave me four suggestions and because she has a degree in comparative religion and has published many books, I listened too. Her first suggestion was to read Impermanence and Love written by Elias Amidon. He is an author and has been a student of Sufism for over 40 years. Join me here in watching an image he clearly described. A child runs to “her mother’s waiting arms” and you view the shared communication of parent child love and then you watch as the child returned to what children do. The author, a new name to me, then continued with “That was many years ago. Now the child no longer exists; a grown up person has taken her place. The mother child image no longer exists because the mother also no longer exists.” What happened to the child and mother can be explained in a single word and I will make it a point to remember it clearly. The word is impermanence. Look closely and you will see that “Each moment yields to the next and never returns.” This is impermanence. Impermanence often brings us sadness and a void. It can also be a path to joy. My past image of ‘I am’ has moved forward and yet it can be remembered and experienced even as my future ‘I am’ appears near. You and I can experience what we all recognize as love as it connects us to a reality which no longer exists. Try it out. Let us continue this walkabout together. Presume your parents are no longer alive (mine are not). Simply state I am the son/daughter of (insert the first and last names of your parents). Now then, you do sense their presence and their humanness. Don’t you? Given time you will also recall the existence of many other things that are gone but still remain real and present. So where are they? I really like the idea that they have become part of a whole and they are what we will become.

Her second suggestion was to create a self ‘I am’ list as long as I could and then cross off any of the roles I have played and identities I have given to myself and those given to me by family, society, faith tradition or nationality. Her point was none of the labels answer the question of Who am I? Why? It is because the answer itself is not verbal but a felt sense in your heart center. Anything that can be said about my ‘I am’ is merely symbolic.” Her third suggestion pointed me in the direction of jnana yoga. (See location 1 below) This branch of yoga focuses on using the mind to transcend the mind. Lastly, she introduced me to a past master of self-inquiry named Ramana Maharshi. It was in the words of a brief Maharshi biography See (location 2 below) that I found my walkabout affirmed. “Being is something that all humans share with the creator or ultimate reality.” Remember this and who said it? “I am that I am.” “Being is primary.”

I learned something new at each and every suggested guidepost. Each was worth the visit and I finished this walkabout comfortable and refreshed.

Now would be a good time for you to begin and enjoy your own ‘I am’ walkabout.

1: http://www.yogabasics.com/learn/jnana-yoga-the-yoga-of-wisdom

2: http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/maharshi.html