HCDCC - Resolution Calling For The Impeachment Of The President

WHEREAS the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects all United States citizens from searches without probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched*, and in conformity with the commands of the Fourth Amendment, Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)** which requires the President of the United States to obtain a warrant from a court in order to conduct the domestic wiretapping of an American citizen; and

WHEREAS President Bush has publicly stated that on at least 30 separate and distinct occasions, he has ordered the domestic wiretapping of hundreds of United States citizens without ever obtaining a warrant from a court, thereby committing 30 separate and distinct federal felonies, contrary to the constitution of the United States, and all high crimes warranting impeachment; and

WHEREAS President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have publicly stated that they intend to continue this violation of federal law without fear of prosecution or punishment, thereby challenging the rule of law, provoking a constitutional crisis with Congress, and necessitating impeachment and removal from office; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee calls upon the Honorable Members of the United States House of Representatives to impeach both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

* Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (source: Scholars and Former Officials Analyze the Legality of NSA's Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Program, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, [link]

** FISA

1) When Congress enacted FISA in 1978, it explicitly refused to provide an exception to enable the President to eavesdrop on Americans without getting a judicial warrant. It repealed the provision which the government had relied upon in claiming inherent presidential authority for warrantless wiretaps:

Nothing contained in this chapter or in section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934 shall limit the constitutional power of the President to take such measures as he deems necessary to protect the Nation against actual or potential attack or other hostile acts of a foreign power, to obtain foreign intelligence information deemed essential to the security of the United States, or to protect national security information against foreign intelligence activities. Nor shall anything contained in this chapter be deemed to limit the constitutional power of the President to take such measures as he deems necessary to protect the United States against the overthrow of the Government by force or other unlawful means, or against any other clear and present danger to the structure or existence of the Government. The contents of any wire or oral communication intercepted by authority of the President in the exercise of the foregoing powers may be received in evidence in any trial hearing, or other proceeding only where such interception was reasonable, and shall not be otherwise used or disclosed except as is necessary to implement that power. Pub. L. No. 90-351, 82 Stat. 212 (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520 (1968)).

3) Instead, in FISA Congress enacted a comprehensive scheme governing all foreign intelligence wiretaps, including provisions for emergency wiretaps in advance of warrants and wiretaps of foreign embassies inside the US without warrants, because as foreign governments, they are not covered by the Fourth Amendment. It expressly provided that after a declaration of war the Attorney General could authorize warrantless wiretaps for 15 days.

Those steps alone would have sufficed to prohibit warrantless wiretaps, but the Congress went further.

4) It expressly made it a crime for government officials "acting under color of law" to engage in electronic eavesdropping "other than pursuant to statute." 50 U.S.C. 1809.

5) Congress again made explicit that the FISA and the criminal wiretap laws "shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance … communications may be conducted." (Now codified at 18 USC 2511(f).) Section 201 of the FISA as enacted in 1978 provided that:

Nothing contained in this chapter, or section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934, shall be deemed to affect the acquisition by the United States Government of foreign intelligence information from international or foreign communications by a means other than electronic surveillance as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and procedures in this chapter and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance, as defined in section 101 of such Act, and the interception of domestic wire, oral, and electronic communications may be conducted. Pub. L. No. 95-511, 92 Stat. 1783, § 201 (1978).
source: Center for National Securities Studies, Memo from Kate Martin, 12/20/05, [link]