It’s quite amazing that Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle don’t understand their own rules. What do I mean? Please allow me to explain.
On June 13, 2023, U.S. Representative Lauren Beobert introduced House Resolution 503, Impeaching President Biden. The resolution put forth two articles of Impeachment. No problem, right? Well, yes there is, and it’s a big one.
An individual Member cannot introduce Articles of Impeachment. The responsibility for this procedure is strictly within the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee. That was the amazing wisdom of our Founding Fathers.
As a matter of background, in 1974, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 803, which authorized the Committee on the Judiciary to “investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America.”
That’s the way the process is supposed to work, but I’m guessing that certain House Members didn’t get the memo.
Politicians can’t pick and choose what rules and precedents they will follow and which ones they will ignore because they don’t fit their partisan agenda or paradigm.
David J. Bowie, Elizabethtown
