House GOP Extremists Promote Censure Plan Against President
"I think we should censure the president of the United States," Labrador said on CBS…The "censure" strategy has much of the bombast of impeachment...But there's one big problem with this plan: censuring the president might be unconstitutional. Or at least, any censure resolution that would meaningfully punish the president risks violating the Constitution, legal experts say.
Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said a congressional resolution to censure a president is not clearly authorized by the Constitution…The legal problem with one co-equal branch of government censuring another is that the Constitution prohibits Congress from punishing anyone outside its ranks without a trial — termed a "bill of attainder."
"Censure comes up as a possible alternative to impeachment…then the question comes up, what does censure get you…?" [Michael J. Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina] said. "Because when you move that extra step to sanction or constrain him, it's pretty clear that impeachment is the way to do that."...A House Republican leadership aide would not discuss it on the record prior to the Tuesday conference meeting…Tribe said that if Congress moves to censure Obama, "that speaks volumes about the depths to which that once great institution has sadly sunk."
Speaker Boehner, it's time to denounce this irresponsible talk, remove the threat of censure and impeachment off the table immediately, and address the long list of overdue items!