From Op-Ed NEws:


For those following the drama of New Hampshire residents using "Jefferson's Manual" to force the Congress to take up the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney, here's the dirty little secret: it's really easy. All you need to do is print out a version of the below resolution, walk it to an amenable state representative (or assemblyman/woman), and have them enter it into State House business. Now you have an active impeachment resolution in your state.

Is it effective? From a legal standpoint, no one knows, since no presidential impeachment has ever been commenced through Jefferson's Manual, Section 603 of the Manual of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, which provides for impeachments to be initiated on a motion based on charges transmitted from a state legislature. But from a political standpoint, 50 states having impeachment resolutions in the works would make Congress's I-See-Nothing position untenable. So far California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas (YES TEXAS!), Washington, and Wisconsin have active impeachment resolutions. Growing that number exponentially in a short time would be one way to jump-start the growing movement, using the tool the Founders gave us when they envisioned a confederation of states with powers which balanced those of the central government.


Section 603 was included by the Founders as an additional check on the Executive Branch which emanates from the states, rather than from the Congress. It seemed to foresee the situation today, when even Congress, the branch of government which is supposed to be closest to the people, becomes aloof and imperial. Polls show 45 percent of Americans are in favor of impeaching George Bush, a solid 55 percent in the case of Dick Cheney, and these are from early 2007. Bush has not gotten any more popular since. With these kinds of numbers, even if it were unclear exactly where among the silverware impeachment belongs, it is certainly somewhere on the table. Taking it off the table gives a green light for the administration to keep doing more of what it has been doing, like a recalcitrant child being told no matter how badly he behaves, there will always be ice cream for dessert.