PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Walter Jones: “Hamilton Gave us Impeachment; Use the Constitution;” Lawsuits Don’t Work

Aug. 6, 2014 (EIRNS)—Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) gave a powerful interview on impeachment to the North Carolina "Talk of the Town" program on Monday, which was picked up by Buzzfeed yesterday. Jones said that Alexander Hamilton had given us the remedy of impeachment; that Speaker John Boehner’s lawsuit will cost taxpayers $2-3 million; and that involvement in two lawsuits against Presidents proves that they do not work.

Jones opened,

"I am one that believes sincerely that the Constitution says that when a President, be it a Republican or a Democrat, exceeds his authority, and you can’t stop the President from exceeding his authority, then we do have what’s called impeachment. Thank Alexander Hamilton. He felt that the Congress needed to use this process to get the attention of a President. And if the President had lost the public trust, then move forward in that area. We recently had a vote to go to Federal courts. I did not vote for that. I was one of five [Republicans that did not]."

Jones was indeed one of five Republican members of the Republican-controlled House, who voted against a resolution last week authorizing House Speaker John Boehner to sue Obama; the suit will claim that Obama abused his powers by bypassing Congress in delaying the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

The resolution, which passed 225-201, was also opposed by Republican Reps. Paul Broun, (R-GA) Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Steve Stockman (R-Tex.).

"My problem with what my party is trying to do to sue, is it will cost the taxpayers between $2-3 million dollars.

"Use the Constitution, that’s what it is there for. Since I have been in Congress I’ve gone to court twice with my colleagues: One, when Bill clinton was the President of the United States, he bypassed Congress to bomb Serbia. I went with 22 colleagues, and 3 or 4 were Democrats, and we went to the Federal Court in Congress with Tom Campbell, who led the charge—he’s a law professor from California who was in Congress at the time, and we were kicked out of the courts.

"Then when President Obama bombed Libya, by bypassing the Congress—and you saw what’s happened there now—it’s in total chaos, and we went to the Federal Courts [with] Jonathan Turley; he’s a Constitutional Law Professor at George Washington University. [Former Congressman] Dennis Kucinich and I had lunch with Jonathan Turley to talk about a Federal lawsuit; to go to the Federal Courts with Jonathan Turley. Ron Paul joined us; Tim Johnson joined us, and 2 other Democrats in addition to Dennis Kucinich. We held a news conference in front of the Federal Court in Washington, D.C. Turley said, ‘I think we’ve got a pretty good shot to get this through the court system, and GWU will pay for it.’ OK. We did not get very far in the courts. My problems with what my Party is doing to try to sue is it will cost the taxpayers between $2-3 million. Use the Constitution. That’s what it’s there for."

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/mr-jones-shalalalalalalala