Impeach Obama For Illegal Immigrant Amnesty? 2014 Election Results Not Enough For Impeachment

Should Congress impeach Obama for “treason” or giving illegal immigrants’ amnesty via an executive order? The 2014 election results have not been out for 24 hours and already Obama’s impeachment is on the table for discussion, but actually impeaching Obama may be impossible even with with the Republican majority in the Senate.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, when Congress was away during the federal sequester, the Obama administration is claimed to have released 167,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records. This past week, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi posted an open letter that claims “Congress and the Constitution give presidents broad authority to take executive action on immigration policy.” President Obama had already pledged to grant illegal immigrants amnesty after the 2014 election results were in, and it’s believed that Democrats will talk about the president having the ability to “parole” any person or group into the country.

When President Barack Obama gave a speech today about the 2014 election results, he claimed there’s a belief that if he issues an executive order this will make it harder for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. But Obama says he would appreciate if the GOP created a comprehensive immigration reform bill, but believes there is a “cost to waiting” that he cannot ignore.

If Obama does in fact issue an executive order giving illegal immigrants amnesty, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow predicted that the new Republican Senate will try to impeach Obama. When Chris Hayes said “there’s a strong political case [that] the president should go big on whatever action he takes… from a political standpoint, it’s the kind of fight you want to pick,” Maddow added “and they will try to impeach him, if and when he does it. And that’s the kind of fight the Democrats want to pick too, honestly.”

Retired Army general Paul Vallely took a step further and suggested that a “coup” or “citizen’s arrest” should occur if President Obama’s impeachment for “the treasonous events that have occurred in violation of our Constitution.” Vallely claims Obama should be put on trial for treason for “aiding and abetting the enemy,” and also adds that the “national security team needs to be tried for treason” because Obama is “sympathetic to the Muslim radical Islam and the caliphate.”

Under military law, specifically the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), reasons for impeachments are treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors. Congress can define what “high crimes or misdemeanors” means, so it’s possible the unilateral actions could be considered a justification, although John Boehner also previously said his lawsuit was not necessarily grounds for impeachment.

By definition, an impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment. A commander-in-chief can be indicted for watching troops die, while having the capability do prevent those actions, but then purposefully taking no action. But Congress has to be the one to call for impeachment.

This is why Obama’s impeachment was not raised until the 2014 election results were official. The House of Representatives has sole power of impeachment, but the Senate has the sole power to try impeachments. This is Article 1 of the United States Constitution. Previously, the majority of the House of Representatives was Republican, while the majority of the Senate was Democratic, thus an attempt to impeach Obama would have gone nowhere. The end result would have been the same as the impeachment of President Clinton, who was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, but the Senate rejected the articles sent from the House.

If articles of impeachment are served, Senate democrats still have the option of filibustering the proceedings in order to stop them. Typically, ending a filibuster requires a Senate majority of 60 or more in order to bypass debate by the minority party. The GOP currently has 52 seats, and it’s possible they will add several more by the end of the year when races in Virginia, Alaska, and Louisiana are decided. But it’s possible that Senate Republicans may choose to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” in order to end any filibuster attempt. Senate Democrats have previously used the nuclear option to end filibustering of Obama’s judicial nominees in November of 2013.

Do you think the new Republican Senate majority will try to impeach Obama? Would you support such a measure if it’s proposed?