As reported yesterday, today Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) introduced a resolution in the House calling for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether or not Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached.
The resolution comes from six congressmen, including Inslee, who were once prosecutors. Nine others have also co-sponsored the resolution.
You can read the resolution here, and watch video of Rep. Inslee's floor speech here. From his announcement on his website, here is Rep. Inslee's rationale for introducing this measure:
During an afternoon press conference announcing the introduction of his legislation, he explained, "Impeachment should only be used as a last resort. In this case, where U.S. attorneys were fired for partisan political purposes, civil liberties and privacy rights were disregarded and testimony to the U.S. Congress was misleading at best, we need to take this serious step to restore the trust of the American people in the office of the attorney general.
"The White House is defending the indefensible actions of Alberto Gonzales," continued Inslee, who hails from Washington state, where U.S. Attorney John McKay was fired in December 2006. "If the president won't do his job, Congress will do ours."
If the resolution garners a majority vote, the Judiciary Committee will start the investigation; if the investigation determines that grounds for impeachment do exist, they can report to the full House one or more articles of impeachment to be voted on. Common Cause supports this resolution as a necessary measure to restore integrity to our justice system, and commends Rep. Inslee on his leadership in taking this action.
