the state legislatures of illinois, california and now vermont have introduced resolutions in their state legislatures to impeach president bush. according to news reports section 603 of jefferson's manual of the rules of the united states house of representatives permits impeachment in the u.s. house of representatives to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature.
at least that's what the news reports say, i can't find any sign of jefferson's manual online.
what i did find was this: there has been at least one impeachment proceeding which was initiated by a joint resolution in a state legislature; the impeachment of federal judge charles swaine. the joint resolution in that case was enacted by the florida legislature in 1903. after the resolution passed in the state house, william b. lamar, a congressman from florida, filed the resolution of impeachment in the house. this triggered impeachment proceedings which took place over the next year and a half. judge swaine was ultimately acquitted in 1905.
the story makes me wonder whether a joint resolution from a state legislature, by itself, can force the house to act on impeachment if the members of the house are not willing to introduce articles of impeachment. in other words, would swaine have been impeached if representative lamar hadn't stood up and introduced the articles of impeachment in congress?
article I, section 2, clause 5 of the constitution gives the house of representatives "the sole power of impeachment." that suggests to me that a joint resolution of a state legislature, by itself, would not require the house to take up impeachment proceedings.
i could be wrong, of course. i'd like to see what section 603 of jefferson's rules says if anyone can find a copy online somewhere. but as exciting as the prospect of making an end-run around the congress to force them to impeach president bush is, maybe we should temper our excitement a little bit. i'm not convinced the ploy would work without support in the house for impeachment. and if we had support in the house, then we wouldn't need the joint resolution of any state legislature.
