Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Jonathan Rauch Criticizes Blagojevich Impeachment Proceedings:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_02_01-2009_02_07.shtml#1233936445
The column is [1]here, at least for this week. Rauch is a very
thoughtful and fair-minded columnist, and his criticisms are always
worth taking seriously. Here's the start and the finish of the column:
Suppose, at least for the time it takes to read the next several
paragraphs, that the ousting of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was a
political railroading. Suppose the intention, whether out of malice
or opportunism or both, was to overturn the 2006 election. What,
actually, would that have looked like? And how different would it
have looked from what happened last week?
I think that Blagojevich is probably a crook, and so does everyone
else, so the question may seem academic. But it's not. Overturning
an election is fundamentally antidemocratic and, in a democracy,
potentially dangerous. When it needs to be done, the proceedings
need to be objectively distinguishable from a railroading. In other
words, the rules must be scrupulously fair. Otherwise, the process
for removing corrupt politicians becomes, itself, indistinguishable
from political corruption....
"Maybe one day it might happen to you," Blagojevich warned the
state senators. He called his removal "a dangerous precedent that
could have an impact on governors in Illinois and governors in
other states."
He had a point. In the scramble to remove him, too many corners
were cut. Not legal corners -- the law was faithfully executed --
but prudential ones. The press and the public were too quick to
take a prosecutor's accusations at face value. The Illinois
Legislature was too willing to act as an arm of the prosecution
instead of an independent fact finder. And the political class was
too cavalier about nullifying an election.
Whatever his wrongs, Blagojevich was right about this: The rules
that removed him are not sufficiently distinguishable from a
railroading, and they are wide open to abuse. We may find out,
before long, that the door he was just shoved through swings both
ways.
References
1. http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/socialstudies.php
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