And here they are again, showing despite all their claims and outcries their complete detachment from most things American especially the legal ones. They are the Tea Party of course. And again too, the intelligent Republicans are now having to struggle to maintain a semblance of logic and decorum before the People turn against the Grand Old Party at the next election.
This last crisis is based on a call by some to enact an impeachment procedure over President Barack Obama over his Immigration policies, past or purported. The figureheads of this movement ( http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com ) are Ted Cruz and of course the ubiquitous I delirious Sarah Palin. Delirious because once again, the charming ex-vice-presidential candidate is mixing her causes ( and effects ) up :
“Sarah Palin, the GOP’s vice presidential candidate in 2008, on Tuesday said Obama should be impeached because of the immigration crisis at the border.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/211734-hard-right-lawmakers-oppose-impeachment#ixzz3715iIhOY
http://www.thewrap.com/sarah-palin-jumps-on-the-impeach-obama-bandwagon/
But if you open the link to Impeach-Obama that I gave above you will find that its rationale for impeachment is instead the “war” on Libya form March 2011. Poor Sarah! But more importantly both options are not factual.
The United States of America did not declare war on Libya in 2011. It provided military support to a UN resolution following France and along the UK with the full support of NATO to enact a no fly-zone over that country. A declaration of war is something else entirely. This was use of force along the very same lines as the bombing of said Libya by US Navy jets in 1986 ordered by then President Ronald Reagan.
Mind you the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not a declared war although in this case the Congress approved the measure due to the scope or format of the operation which made it fall under the War Powers Resolution. In Libya’s case, the enforcement of the UN resolution having been passed over to NATO which Obama reported to Congress ( http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/05/white-house-on-war-powers-deadline-limited-us-role-in-libya-means-no-need-to-get-congressional-autho/ ) on the deadline of 60 days in respect of the part 1544 of the WPR. To put this in better context, the last declaration of war signed by the US Congress came on June 5th 1942 against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. All that followed : Korea as a UN duty and Vietnam as a Joint Resolution of Congress for instance and more recently Iraq 1991 or Afghanistan were not declared wars. Indeed, it was after the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam that the Wars Powers Resolution was drafted to limit the amount of troops and power a President could yield even under a joint resolution act but without a declaration of war proper.
In fact, the constitutionality of the WPR act has never been tested. Not only would this surely be part of any attempt of Impeachment through the House Judiciary Committee but if Barack Obama was half as bad as the Tea party-goers portray him to be, he could very well ask for this to be done right now. The review duration by the Supreme Court would easily exceed the 2 and 1/2 years left on the President’s mandate making the grounds for the Impeachment unusable in the meanwhile. A Supreme Court which by the way wondered out loud about Congress’ ability to act constitutionally ( a presumption of the Constitution Article VI ) at all as recently as 2000.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1342713?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21104284349647
So much then for the real basis of the group that Sarah Palin erroneously thinks she joined. What of her own claim? Well, there, regarding immigration, she is even more wrong.
Fact : Obama’s administration spend more than ever on strengthening immigration enforcement :
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/07/obama-immigration-enforcement/1815667/
Fact : The President asked this week ( yesterday ) for billions more as reported on by FoxNews that Sarah herself cannot fault with a left-wing agenda :
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/08/white-house-funding-border-policy-changes/
Fact : this as raised eyebrows and critics abroad even in the UK which I suppose Mrs Palin will now propose that America should nuke as she recently did with Russia :
Fact : The White House Internet page on Immigration is anything but Socialist leaning :
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration
Fact : The only thing that Sarah Palin and her fellow Tea Party-ers can reproach to Obama is his additional funding of the part that leads a minor to obtain a due process review of possible reunification with parents residing ( legally of course ) in the US but and that is a huge but, this is a section of a law passed in the last year ( 2008 ) of the GW Bush administration
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-immigration-reform-20140630-story.html#page=1
which I don’t suppose Ma’am Palin suggests we should retroactively sue although at this point nothing would surprise me.
Now, you could suppose that this list of facts would be why, in addition to electoral considerations, Rep. House Speaker John Boehner disagrees with Palin’s stance but don’t forget either that the impeachment process ends with the measure being sent to the Senate ( with a 2/3 approval rate necessary for conviction )
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/impeachment.htm
which is presently under Democratic control.
And all this finally leads us to the fun part for there is at times fun to be had with constitutional matters.
The 3 basic tenants of immigration under the Constitution starting with the interpretation of its purpose ( whether it concerns only those descendants of American circa 1787 or not, by which standards many present lawyers and elected officials arguing it would not have ever received citizenship in the first place ) and ending with the power of immigrants in the electoral process which is actually covered in great part by the requirements found on the White House page linked to above through an English and citizen test ( the latter of which many native-born Americans would fail ) include the jurisdiction awarded to Congress through the Commerce clause.
http://openborders.info/blog/immigration-and-the-us-constitution/
Under it, the immigration is covered for nuances of all types coming into play for international law reasons and / or war and criminality purposes. What this means is that if it cannot ban immigration, Congress can modulate, select the parameters of it and of the naturalization process. Congress mind you not the President? And limited powers to stop it from infringing on the powers of States themselves which are by the very way given more leeway to control immigration in the fashion they deem best for their constituency? So that on top of disregarding law in the general matter of impeachment procedures and facts in their reasons to call for it, Sarah Palin and her buddies are borderline blaming themselves twice ( as Congress members and as proponents of a less centralized government for what they find wrong with the present situation of America? *Hands them a rope and sighs*
But as we have just shown, That gang totally ignores the laws as once again evidenced when Sarah declares :
“You don’t bring a lawsuit to a gunfight,” Palin said “There is no place for lawyers on the front lines.”
http://time.com/2970043/boehner-impeachment-palin-obama/
Maybe not Mrs Palin but by the same token, you don’t bring a gun to Congress unless you are part of those folks that cause the gun killings problem so endemic to the USA. Congress is a place for lawmakers?
Check Bill Maher by now classic demonstration at your expanse on the matter :
Not only is Congress the place for lawmakers, it used to be a place where bright Americans would discuss opposing views on how to run the Nation’s ship before setting a course. But of the word bright you took exception as holding a supernumerary letter and retained only the sense of right both in political affiliation and self-certainty to whine endlessly about when you think either is attacked about which you are always at least half-wrong.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the main problem with the GOP is you!
About which more Americans than you think agree with me at least as far as poor Sarah is concerned, check :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/sarah-palin-poll_n_5571557.html
And with that good night, Tay.
Additional reading material and sources :
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103×290455
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/watergatedoc_9.htm
Definitive Lapse of Reason 