As to whether a sitting vice-president can be indicted, I think the answer is yes. Here's the Office of Legal Counsel 2000 Memo to Attorney General which takes that position after analyzing the Solicitor General's 1973 brief that discussed the issue in the context of Spiro Agnew.
On October 5, 1973, less than two weeks after OLC issued its memorandum, Solicitor General Robert Bork filed a brief in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland that addressed the question whether it would be constitutional to indict or criminally try a sitting President. Then-Vice President Agnew had moved to enjoin, principally on constitutional grounds, grand jury proceeding against him. See SG Brief at 3. In response to this motion, Solicitor General Bork provided the court with a brief that set forth "considerations based upon the Constitution's text, history, and rationale which indicate that all civil officers of the United States other than the President are amenable to the federal criminal process either before or after the conclusion of impeachment proceedings."
....In explaining why, as an initial matter, the Vice President could be indicted and tried while still in office, the brief argued that indictment would not effect the de facto removal of that officer. SG Brief at 11.
"[I]t is clear from history that a criminal indictment, or even trial and conviction, does not, standing alone, effect the removal of an impeachable federal officer." Id. at 11-12. The brief noted the past constitutional practice of indicting and even convicting federal judges during their tenure, as well as the fact that Vice President Aaron Burr "was subject to simultaneous indictment in two states while in office, yet he continued to exercise his constitutional responsibilities until the expiration of his term." Id. at 12.
"[I]t is clear from history that a criminal indictment, or even trial and conviction, does not, standing alone, effect the removal of an impeachable federal officer." Id. at 11-12. The brief noted the past constitutional practice of indicting and even convicting federal judges during their tenure, as well as the fact that Vice President Aaron Burr "was subject to simultaneous indictment in two states while in office, yet he continued to exercise his constitutional responsibilities until the expiration of his term." Id. at 12.
....The brief therefore determined that "[c]ertainly it is clear that criminal indictment, trial, and even conviction of a Vice President would not, ipso facto, cause his removal; subjection of a Vice President to the criminal process therefore does not violate the exclusivity of the impeachment power as the means of his removal from office." Id. at 13.
No comments:
Post a Comment