Impeach Cheney?

The Washington Post ran a four-part series this past week that has thoroughly documented the vice president's dominance over various functions of the executive branch (and indeed over the president himself - one of the few issues Bush apparently stood up to Cheney on was the Harriet Miers nomination, and we know how that played out.)

Now, many in the blogosphere (see this collection of articles) are discussing an article by self-described conservative Bruce Fein that explicitly calls for Cheney's impeachment. A single quote from Fein sums up his argument nicely:

"As Alexander Hamilton advised in the Federalist Papers, an impeachable offense is a political crime against the nation. Cheney's multiple crimes against the Constitution clearly qualify."

Fein's indictment includes the following charges, among many others: Cheney's various methods of disregarding his proper role under the Constitution, including creating line-item vetoes (in the form of signing statements) that the Supreme Court had previously denied; forming military commissions that thwart normal judicial procedure; his contention that military power may be unleashed to kill or capture any American citizen on American soil (if suspected of association or affiliation with al-Qaida - so if Dick Cheney decides (or merely suspects) that you are a terrorist, he believes that the military may shoot you on sight next time you enter an airline terminal); his disregard for constitutional amendments delineating the respective powers of the president and vice-president, and under what circumstances the vice-president should assume presidential powers; and of course, Cheney's latest twist of reality - his farcical assertion that the vice-president is not a member of the executive branch, and is exempt from the Constitutional checks and balances placed upon the executive, and indeed from executive orders regarding the executive branch itself.

So, anyone within shouting distance of a 'strict constructionist' view of Constitutional interpretation would be forced to conclude that Cheney has flagrantly disregarded the document he has sworn to uphold, and hence there are ample grounds for impeachment. Should Congress actually do so? After all, prosecutorial discretion means that even if a crime has been committed, charges do not have to be brought. Some crimes do not deserve prosecution. Cheney's do, however; for his latest transgressions strike at the very heart of what Congress could do to discipline his excesses in the normal way - by exercising congressional oversight of his activities. But he has claimed the extralegal right to keep secret even what he is keeping secret - a meta-secret, if you will - and hence is essentially, by his own admission, acting unchecked by any other branch of government - even the executive! We fought a war to get rid of a tyrant named George III. Let's hope Congress can depose this one peacefully.