Down The Hatch

by digby

In the Feingold hearings today, Orrin Hatch said that censure is unconstitutional. Like all the rest of the hypocritical weasels of the Eunuch Caucus, he has a very short memory:

Republicans believe their aggressive pursuit of impeachment is not only required by the Constitution but also satisfies their more conservative political base.

The growing debate about punishment for Clinton short of removal from office stems from a hard political count. Hatch said proponents of ousting the president will almost certainly be short of the required two-thirds vote in the Senate.

“It may be that if more hasn’t come out or if people do not feel we can get 67 votes, it may be that that is the time when something else can be resolved,” Hatch said.

Even though censure is not mentioned in the Constitution, Hatch said he believes it is within Congress’ right.

“But it would have to be done very carefully” to avoid transgressing the Constitution’s prohibition on “bills of attainder,” or a legislatively enacted punishment, he said.

“This is a lot more difficult than people today realize,” Hatch said.

Of course this impressive legal thinker is also the guy who says this:

“It would be unconstitutional for the Congress to say, ‘You have to go through the FISA court.’ We could pass a law that says, ‘We want you to go through the FISA court,’ and I think the president would probably try to live with that. The problem is, you cannot do what they’ve been doing to protect us through the current FISA statute.”

Interesting new theory. The congress passes laws the country must abide by. Except for the president. For him laws are just polite requests.

God Save The King.

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