Recognizing that the process of impeaching and removing President Obama from office is a “dead end,” far-right WorldNetDaily columnist Jack Wheeler suggests today that Republican politicians move instead to prosecute the president for purportedly violating the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause.
“All patriots now have the opportunity to actively encourage Republican governors to have their state prosecute the president,” Wheeler writes. If successful, “Mr. Obama can be thrown out of office and go to jail.”
There are many barriers to impeachment. First is, you need Congress to do it. The invertebrates who run the GOP don’t have the spine for it. Second, impeachment is merely the indictment, issued by a House majority. That’s a many month-long arduous process. The actual trial is held by the Senate. Even if the GOP gains majority this November, it will be nowhere near the 67 votes to convict required by the Constitution.
So impeachment is a dead end. We need a law – a federal law on the books that bypasses Congress and for which you do not need the Justice Department to prosecute. It turns out there is just such a law. Here’s the law’s background.
Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, of the United States Constitution states:
“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”
This is the “Power of the Purse” clause, which Article I, Section 7, Clause 1, makes clear is exclusively held by the House:
“All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”
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But how do you enforce this power? Here is what may well be the single most important question to ask in America today:
Given that the current President of the United States is determined to bypass the House’s appropriation authority and spend gigantic sums on whatever programs he wants or enforcing whatever executive orders he issues, is there an enforcement mechanism for his violating the power of the purse clauses in the Constitution?
The answer is yes. There is a federal law that specifically codifies the power of the purse clauses and provides specific punishment for their violation by any “officer or employee of the United States government.”
This punishment is “suspension from duty without pay or removal from office,” and up to two years in federal prison.
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Mr. Obama needs to be prosecuted in violation of the Antideficiency Act. He can be criminally prosecuted, per §1350, for knowingly and willfully violating it.
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If a State, at the direction of its governor and attorney general, initiated criminal proceedings against the president as an officer and employee of the United States government for willfully violating the Antideficiency Act, the case per the Original Jurisdiction clause, must bypass all lower courts and go directly to the Supremes.
The opportunity is there on a platinum platter for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Or Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Or any GOP governor wanting to fire up his 2016 presidential ambitions with rocket fuel.
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We have the Constitution and the specific federal law to put an end to the tyranny. It’s time to go on offense. All patriots now have the opportunity to actively encourage Republican governors to have their state prosecute the president and to help conservative law firms build their case.
The Antideficiency Act is the means by which Mr. Obama can be thrown out of office and go to jail. Let’s use it.
