Brattleboro, Vermont is in the heart of the Vermont impeachment movement. Brattleboro was one of the first five towns to pass the popular impeachment resolution and now activists want to take it to another level… if you can call it that.
According to Dave Gram of AP:
A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.
“This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they’re supposed to do,” said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive
Huh?
The measure asks: “Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?”
Daims has been circulating documents that claim the community acquires a “universal jurisdiction” to take such steps “when governments breach their highest duties.”
“We have the full power to issue indictments, conduct trials, incarcerate offenders and do all other acts which Independent jurisdictions may of right do,” the statement says.
OK. I’m an impeachment advocate (and I live outside Brattleboro for that matter) but somebody please tell me why this is legally invalid and completely moronic. Here’s a response I got from Kurt Daims, the author of the resolution
Kurt’s words state that it does not need to necessarily have current legal standing. The Declaration of Independence had no legal standing in its time, yet it was essential, and effective.
To read more of what Kurt Daims wrote click here. Better yet, chime in at iBrattleboro.
I can’t wait to hear what Armando, edger, and andgarden have to say about this!
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Raw Story
Common Dreams
Michelle Malkin
and many many more.
Why?
i’d like to know whats going on…
if it’s just more hot air
Icerocket allows you to track how many blogs have been talking about impeachment.
I think it shows that we haven’t been doing our job…unfortunately.
What a piece of nonsense. IMHO it’s a publicity stunt.
You cannot indict somebody by referendum. You indict somebody by presenting the case to a Grand Jury. The Grand Jury hears testimony, including that a crime (defined by statute) was committed in the Grand Jury’s territorial jurisdiction, and the Grand Jury votes an indictment. When an indictment is reported out by the Grand Jury, an arrest warrant is issued.
Here there are big problems. First, there’s no crime as defined by statute. “Crimes against our constitution” is not a crime. The Declaration of Independence is not a statute. Second, it’s a stretch to figure out how the crime may have been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of Vermont.
I love impeaching the mfers but seriously, folks, this ain’t how.