Why Karl Rove Should Go To Jail
Again last week, we saw the arrogance of former White House advisor Karl Rove when an empty chair sat for him in front of the House Judiciary subcommittee where he was required by subpoena to testify. Not only did he refuse to appear before the committee -- let alone testify -- but he defiantly left the country thereby blatantly ignoring his obligations under the congressional subpoena served on him. When he did return to the country, Rove found the time to gab with TV reporters on a summer press tour in Beverly Hills, but failed to stop by the Judiciary Committee in Washington.
After my ruling that Mr. Rove's claims of immunity are not legally valid, Congressman Conyers and I gave him one last chance to comply with the law. He ignored us. As he let yet another deadline slip by this week, Mr. Rove's disregard for Congress has become intolerable. Mr. Rove needs to understand that he is not above the law and should obey a subpoena just like any other American is required to do.
Mr. Rove should not be able to hide behind the president to avoid the American public. Americans are fed up with this administration flouting the law. They expect Congress to hold people accountable and that is exactly what we intend to do. Letting Mr. Rove get away with this would set a dangerous precedent. I have recommended that we hold Mr. Rove in contempt of Congress. If we need to revive the inherent contempt procedure which gives Congress the authority to arrest those who defy Congressional subpoenas, then so be it.
The courts have made clear that no one, not even the president, is immune from compulsory process. Any person who scoffs at the law and who has committed an offense that is punishable by jail time should be put in jail. This includes Karl Rove.
Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez is the Chairwoman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. She represents the 39th Congressional District of California.
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I am sick and tired of hearing what Congress "should" do and how Karl Rove "should" go to jail. Conyers, Pelosi, Reid and the rest of you talk a good fight, but that's all you do - talk. You make these speeches about the Constitution and the rule of law, but then after you get those of us who are paying attention all worked up in anticipation of you actually defending the Constitution and upholding the rule of law, you tell us that you really, really want to take action, but there is a complicated process that must be followed, or you mumble something about a razor thin majority and tell us that you have to keep your powder dry for reasons that we common folk just can't understand . Either do something or shut up because all you are doing by is calling attention to the fact that you have no intention of enforcing the law. The Bush/Cheney administration is corrupt, they've shredded our Bill of Rights and committed war crimes in pursuit of power and to enrich themselves and their cronies. But the Democratic controlled Congress is no better, abdicating responsibility and refusing to do anything because the worse things get under the present administration, the greater your chances for political gain in the November elections. What kind of person sits by and does nothing as their country falls into chaos because doing so may give you greater power later on?
Damn straight! Reid & Pelosi have to go. Bush should have been impeached months ago and both him and Cheney arrested for war crimes and treason. As a Democrat, I'm embarrased by this congress that can't seem to find enough vertebrae between themselves to form a spine.
To let Rove get away with flipping off the congress only highlights the fact that they are still afraid of the Bush/Cheney/Rove machine.
Shameful!
Right on!
Nice speech Linda, sounds a little familiar though. It's almost like I heard it somewhere before.
Doesn't it appear that bin Laden and our own authoritarian leaders, like Karl Rove, are working toward the same end - Destroying this country? Isn’t aiding the enemy treason? Isn’t treason a high crime? And Congress hasn’t yet initiated impeachment proceedings because …?
If it's hands off for the upper tier of imperial law breakers - can't Congress at least get Karl Rove?
Fear Not! Fellow Demorats! We a planning on maybe, proposing to kinda take some action regards Mr.Roves, potential , or possible contemtp of our beloved Congress! Just any time now! Hold your breath! Well, maybe later! John Conyers, DEMO
Please stop playing into Karl Rove's hands Mr & Ms Democrat. You charge him now and Bush will pardon him, just wait until after November and send the whole sorry bunch to prison.
You're nuts! Sanchez and Conyers and all the other Demos in power need to nail this guy right now! Not wait until sometime in the future. We don't put off arresting someone or taking them to trial until it's politically expedient.
If they don't do anything yet it might be for the best, but I would suggest that as soon as Bush and Cheney and their henchmen are out of office that they place them under house arrest and then bring them in front of Congress to face a tribunal. This way they can't run away and they can't pardon each other. The Dems had just better make sure that they win big this time around and that they immediately clean house. Mukasey should be impeached. They should create a law limiting the terms of the Supreme Court and change the way they are seated as well. Things must change drastically. These last eight years have proven that the Constitution hasn't worked as it was supposed to and that it is easier then it should be for a party to take over every part of the government. We should never let it happen again, whether it be Republican or Democrat. A party that controls all parts of the Government is a Dictatorship.
For over 40 years, going back to the Roosevelt/ Truman years Democrats controlled Congress, as they do now. For only 14 of those years was there a Republican president.
Are you really saying that Democrats were the party of dictatorship for over 26 years?
Whoa, that is a terrible charge to make.
He can pardon them before he leaves, if he leaves office.
Impeachment takes the presidents power of pardon away.
"he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachmen
Once the impeachment case is open, "he shall have the Power" goes away.
Really.
So, as soon as the die is cast, we start impeachment proceedings and NO ONE gets pardoned? Hm.
Then afterwards, the new justice dept, and other states in aid of their citizens can start any number of thousands of both criminal and civil cases against this bunch.
Just stand in the doorway so they don't all flee to Paraguay at once.
Personally, I think that indictment is going to be the equivalent of Murrow saying to McCarthy, “Have you no shame? At long last, have you no shame?” The b'ushies and their minions will platz like so many weather balloons in the stratosphere.
Research, I hate to burst your bubble but impeachment is only for removing someone from office during their elected term, not after, or before, just during. Your scenario can not exist in the real world.
Like blanket pardons will slip Bush's mind if we just keep quiet until he's left office? Get real - charge Bush now as well. A President cannot pardon himself nor can he pardon anyone else for the purpose of covering up evidence or suppressing testimony with regard to crimes in which the President himself has been indicated.
JayBob,
"...would herald the transforma
Are you serious?? That is precisely what we now have in Washington, wouldn't you say?
And the more I read of our history, the clearer it becomes that this has been true from the very beginning, from the moment the pilgrims scraped the mud off their shoes on Plymouth Rock (or was it the puritans? I haven't completely mastered this whole history thing)
Although I think the current criminals-in-charge are darker, baser and more lacking in simple human decency than a lot of us were prepared to believe.
Boy, I so hope Obama is for real.
I concur. I've read a lot of history and from what I have gleaned from it , you are exactly right. The early colonists were gullible and allowed a wealthy class to convince them that it was in "their (the lower class) interest) to revolt. In fact all they managed to accomplish was to free up the Landed Gentries ability to have free rein to get richer. Getting the Crown off of their backs was in their best interest and they needed the gullible masses to do the dying for them. same thing is still going on in Iraq ,as it did in Vietnam.
Since when does "White House Advisor" earn a Get Out of Jail Free card? Aren't we ALL White House Advisors?
Not in the current regime, we're not? Haven't you noticed?
Preaching to the choir is a waste of time. Congress has proven that it deserves nothing but contempt. Democrats in Congress have sided with the neoCONs time and again, eviscerating the constitution, sending troops into needless battle without sufficient armor or support; and voting time and again to waste hundreds of billions of dollars in KBR Halliburton contracts while providing no support to the troops actually fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan. You have voted the president unprecedented ability to break the law, and given a green light to corporations to laugh at the law and at Congress by passing FISA/Telcome Corporate bailout bill.
In short, Congress has acted in a manner that inspires contempt by everyone, and seems happy to take more steps in that direction. I suspect a bait and switch, where liberal congressmen hold show hearings, while Steney Hoyer, John Rockefller, Nancy Pilosi, Jame Harman and Harry Reid sell this country down the river while stuffing their own pockets.
If you want to enforce the law, be our guest. But no one outside Washington is holding our breath - except those innocent victims still being waterboarded for fun by troops with no health care.
well said.
Yes it was.
Amen, amen.
Just stop talking about it! As I read this article I was thinking, why is this person wasting time writing an article when she should be out having Rove arrested? What's the point of the article? Just go DO IT!
We all feel this way. Damn it Sanchez DO SOMETHING! Stop whining about Republican law breaking and abuse of power and political bullying and do something. You've got Rove in contempt now nail the guy. For once, stand up to these guys and your oath of office to defend the law and The Constitution, and arrest him.
abluevoice: Hear,hear. The time has come to put the clamps
on irresponsible government, and that's exactly what we have.
Linda Sanchez is no weak-kneed, frightened wimp. hipo
Yes, I felt the same frustration too, does anyone in Washington DC actually do anything, seems like this administration has literally gotten away with murder and not called to account for it.
Failure by Congress to hold Rove and the obvious others accountable for the alledged crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration would represent not merely the abdication of Constitutional responsibility, but far more ominously, sweeping it all under the rug a la Pelosi in the name of business as usual would herald the transformation, either by default or monstrous design, of our form of representative government by law toward oligarchy, government for and by the rich and powerful.
By all means..do it! What are you waiting for? His butt needed to be in jail a long time ago..just like his boss! I don't know why impeachment hasn't been put into process. It's way past time that these "leaders" were held accountable.
Rove is the chief spin doctor but Cheney and Addington are the planners.
Ever since Nixon was forced to resign, they have been planning every move to
make the executive branch legally bullet proof.
They have stacked the deck in so many ways, there 's no telling what it might take to unravel their nest.
Congress does not currently have enough of a majority to convict even if by some miracle
impeachment did move forward.
It is well known that Cheney deliberately keeps no paper trail, no records that could implicate him.
He is the most powerful and dangerous Vice President in American history and for now,
appears to be untouchable.
As far as I can see, Congress needs to act vigorously NOW or lose all credibility
as an effective co-equal branch of government.
As it stands now, We already have the Executive, The Legislative, The Judicial and The Corporate.
From the perspective of We The People, The Corporate trumps all.
So stop all the jawing and put his ass in jail!!!
I ask myself after reading rhis column by Ms. Sanchez,, pretty much the same question, Democratic congress, etc. hmm?
If the violations are clear, like you say, just do it !
My thoughts beside political theatre, is that there is nothing to arrest him for. Reed, Pelosi and company would have seen to that already. He made them look like fools for 7 years, and I am sure they would like a little payback.
Or, one last possibility, are they scared the same could happen to them? The criminalization of politics is not a good thing.
I wrote to my Dem. Congressman, fat & happy with 10 terms under his belt, and asked him where was his outrage? Rove, Miers, Stephen Johnson and Susan Dudley (EPA) and others literally have ignored Congressional subpoenas to appear and testify. Why will this Dem. Congress not find the fortitude to bypass that toady MuKasey and indict these people for inherent contempt.
If just one of them gets to trial, it will be before the Senate with Cheney presiding. Some may call it political theater, but it would bring some of what's been done out into the light of day. One of the best outcomes would be Bush issuing blanket pardons for these feons, thereby cementing his legacy in exactly the right place.
Time is running out. If Obama indeed is elected, the new administration will not want to drag this boat anchor from the past along with them. This is the last chance.
bravenewfi
Failure by Congress to hold Rove and the obvious others accountable for the alledged crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration would represent not merely the abdication of Constitutional responsibility, but far more ominously, sweeping it all under the rug a la Pelosi in the name of business as usual would herald the transformation, either by default or monstrous design, of our form of representative government by law toward oligarchy, government for and by the rich and powerful.
Let your voice be heard:
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