The Impeachment Clock

Today's best article is ''What the President Ordered in This Case Was a Crime" by John Nichols, which describes what Representative John Conyers has been doing to keep the impeachment ball rolling in the House Judiciary Committee. As the article makes clear, the true responsibilty to go forward rests with the Committee Chairman, Republican Representative James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.

As the chair of the Judiciary Committee, Sensenbrenner has a Constitutionally-mandated responsibility to take seriously the charges of executive lawbreaking and impropriety that are currently in play. If he cannot execute this responsibility in a reasoned and bipartisan manner, then he has a duty to step aside.

"Last month all 17 House Judiciary Democrats called on Chairman Sensenbrenner to convene hearings to investigate the President's use of the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance involving U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, in apparent contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As our request has since been ignored, it is our job, as Members of Congress, to review the program and consider whether our criminal laws have been violated and our citizen's constitutional rights trampled upon," explained Conyers, who has played a critical role in investigations of wrongdoing by Democratic and Republican presidents since the days when Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House.

As the Bush administration spreads its spin to change the nature of this debate, it is essential to remember that the issue is the President's admitted violation of the law of the United States. This is a criminal issue not a political issue.