District 31 Anne Arundel County
MD Attorney General Declares Himself Unimpeachable
On Monday March 1, 2010 Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler declared in a letter written to House Speaker Michael E. Busch, that the Attorney General may only be removed by a court proceeding for the specified grounds, not by impeachment by the legislature.
While it is true that during the impeachment process, the removal comes as result of a court procedure, in all impeachments the Senate or High House becomes the court of jurisdiction. This is evidenced in the many historical records of impeachment proceedings.
This letter was reportedly presented to Democrat members of the General Assembly with the understanding that that Maryland Attorney General cannot be impeached. This is simply ludicrous given that according to Article 3 Section 26 of the Maryland Constitution states;
“The House of Delegates shall have the sole power of impeachment in all cases; but a majority of all the members elected must concur in the impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and when sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be on oath, or affirmation, to do justice according to the law and evidence; but no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Senators elected”.
This opinion letter comes on the heels of an announcement on February 24, 2010 that I would impeach Attorney General Gansler for violating his Oath of office and usurping the legislative authority of the General Assembly by recognizing out of state same sex marriages in Maryland.
I am not surprised to see that Attorney General Gansler opposes his own impeachment. What is surprising is that Dan Friedman (Council to the General Assembly) who wrote the letter, refers to the book, Dan Friedman, The Maryland State Constitution: A Reference Guide as the basis for his opinion that the Attorney General may not be impeached or removed by the legislature.
click here to read Dan Friedman’s letter
| Print article | This entry was posted by Delegate Don Dwyer on March 11, 2010 at 1:35 pm, and is filed under Impeachment. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 3 years ago
Don, Why are employers hiring illegal aliens and getting away with it. They are working everywhere. Approximately 85-88% in this country are illegal. I hear local police can’t do anything about it and Ice has their hands full and now budget cuts hurt them also.Also, Casa de Maryland are truly aiding and abetting illegal aliens yet they are allowed to open their day labor camps where they send aliens, legal or not, to wait for employers to pick them up for cash jobs.This is what are tax $$ support. Citizens shouldn’t be required to support this kind of nonsense..
about 3 years ago
Hi Jackie, I feel your frustration on this issue. Our job is harder than it needs to be in stemming the tide becuse our the current administration is encouraging illegal aliens to continue to break the law here. Billions of dollars go to organizations like CASA while workers are being furloughed. I co-sponsored and support e-verify which would help employers identify those wokers who are not here legally, this legislation would go a long way to help reduce the flow of illegals into MD.
about 3 years ago
Since the AG is not challenging the constitutionality of the health “reform” bill, you can add another charge to his impeachment.
about 3 years ago
The Attorney General declared himself unimpeachable??!! That’s like a judge declaring himself not guilty and above prosecution.
It takes real chutzpah for an executive branch official to declare himself unimpeachable, even though impeachment is a necessary legislative check on executive branch abuses. It’s like a judge declaring himself not guilty.
So much for checks and balances. (Sad to say, an increasing number of state attorneys general run roughshod over the concept of separation of powers: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19161 )
about 3 years ago
Our major issue in this country is our two political parties. Our forefathers knew that a two party system would be our downfall and took steps to try to stop this type of politics, and thus anyone who seriously thinks that politics isn’t corrupt or slaves to Corporate America hasn’t not been paying attention. George Jr. will go down in History as one of the worst administrations in history and I could go on for hours showing why, but my point is that the Obama administration has offered nothing different (besides health reform, granted) and has in fact continued nearly every single Bush program. Obama has almost the same political donors and thus has the same pressures as Bush did. Health reform will turn out to be the most expensive and destructive waste of tax payer money ever. I just wish I could offer a better alternative for other frustrated people, but I can’t and those that think that the tea partiers are the future, remember that Sarah Palin is an important figure to them.
about 3 years ago
I strongly oppose your efforts to impeach the MD AG because of his opinion stating that out of state same-sex marriages should be recognized in Maryland. Gay people should have the option to marry and all the benefits that go along with it. They have been the scapegoats of politicians for far too long. Same sex marriage should be legal in Maryland. Aside of being discriminatory, your beliefs and actions deeply hurt many people who are trying to live their lives with the person they love. Many of us in Maryland have gay and lesbian family members who we want to be happy and live fulfilling lives. There are so many more important issues that you could be spending your time with that can actually benefit Maryland- please stop using your unique position to deprive people of something that means so much to so many.
about 3 years ago
A flat tax of 11% of ALL Americans would bring in more money to the government that they are bringing in today – but of course we would tick off a ton of liberals who now reside in their parents’ basements. But at this point if something is not done to reign in spending and taxes we will all be living there.