Vermont Senate Votes to Impeach Bush, Cheney

Unlike New Mexico, where nine Democrats joined Republicans on a procedural maneuver to kill a NM Senate Joint Memorial seeking impeachment of Bush and Cheney during this year's Legislative Session, Vermont's Senate today voted 16-9 for a similar measure. As reported this morning by the Associated Press:

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."

... The resolution says Bush and Cheney's actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, "raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust."

"I think it's going to have a tremendous political effect, a tremendous political effect on public discourse about what to do about this president," said James Leas, a vocal advocate of withdrawing troops from Iraq and impeaching Bush and Cheney.

... Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has kept a similar resolution from reaching the floor in her chamber. She argued that an impeachment resolution would be partisan and divisive and that it would distract Washington from efforts to get the United States out of Iraq, which she says is more important.

... Forty towns voted in favor of similar nonbinding impeachment resolutions at their annual town meetings in March.

To trace what happened with New Mexico's legislative impeachment resolution, check our archive of impeachment posts.