Over 1000 Attorneys Demand Investigation Into Unconstitutional Action By Bush Admin

The Nation:

Over one thousand lawyers - including former Governor Mario Cuomo and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein - have signed onto the above statement demanding wide-ranging investigative hearings into unconstitutional and potentially criminal activity by the Bush administration.

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and winner of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship, said: "The majority of lawyers in this country understand that the Bush administration has really gone off the page of constitutional rights and off the page of fundamental rights, and is willing to push the Congress to restore those rights." Ratner said he was "dismayed" that a Democratic majority has failed "to push on key illegalities... the torture program, and now the destruction of the tapes involving the torture program; the warrantless wiretapping, the denial of habeas corpus, the secret sites/rendition program, special trials, and of course what we now know is the firing of US Attorneys scandal.... The minimal that absolutely is needed to get us back on the page of law is to have serious investigative hearings that go up the chain of command and figure out who is responsible for what."

Read the whole story: The Nation

Comments

[drivenalmostcrazy]

I'd feel better if all those lawyers were carrying guns, they're probably going to need.

[WIpatriot]

"Ratner said he was "dismayed" that a Democratic majority has failed "to push on key illegalities… the torture program, and now the destruction of the tapes involving the torture program; the warrantless wiretapping, the denial of habeas corpus, the secret sites/rendition program, special trials, and of course what we now know is the firing of US Attorneys scandal…"

Yeah, I am, too.

IMPEACH!

[frappe]

Apparently, it is clear to anyone that cares about the integrity of our Constitution and the rule of law that action MUST be taken to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution. The only people with whom this meaning and approach hasn't seemed to register is with the politicians who have taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend our Constitution and, oh yes, who supposedly represent our best interests. Many of them seem more concerned with personal gain as opposed to public service...­Careers with lobbying firms on K St. looms large in many of their motivations rather than concerns about freedom, liberty and the rule of law.

[OilWarsDotCom]

Hey, assholes!!!!!!!!!
USC Title 18 ; Chapter 19; Section 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.

USC Title 18 ; Chapter 47; Section 1002
Possession of false papers to defraud United States

Whoever, knowingly and with intent to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof, possesses any false, altered, forged, or counterfeited writing or document for the purpose of enabling another to obtain from the United States, or from any agency, officer or agent thereof, any sum of money, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Nuremberg Indictment – WW2
“Count Two of the Indictment charges the defendants with committing specific crimes against peace by planning, preparing, initiating, and waging wars of aggression against a number of other States. It will be convenient to consider the question of the existence of a common plan and the question of aggressive war together, and to deal later in this Judgment with the question of the individual responsibility of the defendants. The charges in the Indictment that the defendants planned and waged aggressive wars are charges of the utmost gravity. War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent States alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”

[ExRepublican]

What the heck. Mrs Huffy? this IMPORTANT story should be moving up, not down. Get it up as the headliner and knock some sense into those sissyish "not enough votes' crowd. Help to give 'em some backbone.

Move this one up. Please.

[enoughalready]

MAY I SAY IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE DID SOMETHING TO PROTECT OUR CONSTITUTION!!!

[Zhonni]

Right on!!!!!!

[ImpeachmentNOW]

.
The TrickyD'ick impeachment hearings were justified on FAR LESS DAM'NING INFORMATION than exists for the high crimes and misdemeanors of DickNBush.

Will somebody please pull Nancy "Impeachme­nt-is-off-­the-table" Pelosi's head out of her a**, so that these criminals can get the justice they deserve?
.

[DBlake]

Do you believe that crimes have been committed by the Bush / Cheney Administration in violation of the Constitution?

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1360
.

[Maxbyte]

This is an excellent read. I hope Congress does exactly what these lawyers and probably many more who are not signatories ask.

[After Reid is replaced as Majority Leader by Dodd.]

The only thing Reid has demonstrated in 2007 is that he either does not understand Senate rules as well as Republicans, or he cannot consistently bring himself to invoke appropriate Senate rules to thwart the Republican ground game. That's pretty sad.

Some of Reid's problem may be that his currency has devalued faster than the U.S. Dollar among his constituents. He should not be Majority Leader while his mind is in Nevada. The cynical may ask if his mind has ever been in Washington?

[esquire07]

Nothing will happen. King George is above the law and Democrats are worthless cowards.

Get ready America - 9/11 part II is what you are getting for 2008. Brought to you once agian by Dick Cheney and his criminals.

After a million Americans are vaporized in a mili-second there will be no election..­. only Martial law and American death camps - similar to Auchwitz.

Bush does what Bush wants - just like Hitler.

Soon its lights out for America.

RIP: US Constitution 1787-2000

[NotWaldo]

Democrats won't do anything about these alleged crimes because many of them agreed with Bush at the time or knew and didn't say anything. I believe impeachment would be an embarassement to Democrats.

Americans have to face the fact that after 9/11 they went nuts for a while and suffered from post traumatic disorder. They wanted to kick somebody's ass. Bush offered them Saddam. And a vast majority agreed with the invasion at the time.

In 2002 and 2003, many americans would probably have agreed with waterboarding of suspected Al-Qeida terrorists.

Slowly but surely, the people have regained their sanity during the last few years. They're now asking that the country goes back to the fundamental principles of democracy. I believe it will happen.

[lisakaz]

My first thought: Which unConstitutional action(s)? There are so many to choose from. Second: who signed?

[terminallyamerican]

Sorry to sound so unpatriotic at such a patriotic time in history, but - ever since the beginning of WWII - America has established itself as an extremely militant nation through deceptive schemes designed to get America involved in wars around the world - not to mention the countless black ops that most know nothing about.

Eisenhower warned us about the "military-­industrial complex". Today, money grows on trees for contractors of weapons systems and services, as they grow fat on the big blank check.

Just as the United States of America has stampeded its way across the modern landscape of history, the American government is now grinding its very own Constitution down to pulp.

For decades, we Americans have been terminally lackadaisical regarding the direction our country has continued in. Don't we deserve all that our sorry patriotic rear ends have coming to us?

[LorettaSingbiel]

we call on House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to launch hearings into the possibility that crimes have been committed by this administration in violation of the Constitution…. We call for the investigations to go where they must, including into the offices of the President and the Vice President. -- American Lawyers Defending the Constitution

Oh those "ACTIVIST" lawyers are no match for those "EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGED"!

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta