[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22427]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


    ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY RESOLUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JAY INSLEE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

  Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today with several of my colleagues 
to introduce a resolution that would require that the Judiciary 
Committee initiate an impeachment investigation of Attorney General 
Alberto Gonzales. I have introduced this resolution only after careful 
consideration and exercising a great deal of caution.
  Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper No. 66 stated, ``the powers 
relating to impeachments are . . . an essential check in the hands of 
that body upon the encroachments of the executive.'' The 
``encroachments'' made by this Attorney General subvert several core 
constitutional values.
  I believe that it is clear the Attorney General was involved in the 
decisions to fire several U.S. Attorneys for not pursuing public 
corruption cases based on partisan political factors. I also believe 
that the Attorney General has made false or misleading statements to 
Congress in order to minimize his role in the warrantless surveillance 
program, the U.S. Attorney firings, and to otherwise obstruct 
congressional investigations.
  Our judicial system must operate outside of the political process in 
order to preserve justice. The American people deserve an independent 
Justice Department that is not controlled by the political strategists 
at the White House. Gonzales' lack of candor before Congress perverts 
and undermines the ability of Congress to trust assurances made by the 
executive branch and it also retards Congress' ability to carry out its 
constitutionally mandated functions.
  Based on the facts we know today, I believe that an investigation 
will reveal that the level of malfeasance of the Attorney General is 
impeachable. With the President showing no sign of replacing the 
Attorney General, Congress must assert itself and remove him from 
office. His removal is essential to preserve the strength of the 
Congress and to send the clear unambiguous message to future Attorneys 
General that the politicization of prosecutions and the U.S. Attorneys 
across the country is a repugnant degradation of the law.

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