SB 104-20: Federal Impeachment Amendment (Tabled)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

What? Regional officials aren't "civil officers of the Republic of Atlasia", they are officers of their respective regions. This is a Rosecrans amendment attempting to solve a problem that does not exist, and in the process creating a new problem via redundancy.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Well at least it wasn't Arizona this time.

You're gonna have to explain this one to me.

What? Regional officials aren't "civil officers of the Republic of Atlasia", they are officers of their respective regions. This is a Rosecrans amendment attempting to solve a problem that does not exist, and in the process creating a new problem via redundancy.

Yes, and because those regions are within the Republic of Atlasia, they can still be considered civil officers of such. I just think that this line is somewhat ambiguous and could potentially lead to abuse at some point, and there is a case to be made that under the current language, the Senate could impeach non-federal officials. It's not redundant, it just clarifies the language so that an impartial (well, or partial) judge can't argue otherwise.

Well no, not really. This is literally the same language as in the U.S. constitution, which nobody argues empowers Congress to impeach state officials because that's not what "civil officers of the United States Republic of Atlasia" means. But if you add "federal", you imply that it does mean that and then every other use of "officers" becomes ambiguous. Very bad amendment, senators please vote no!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Here is the text of Article II§4 of the U.S. constitution:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

If "civil officers of the United States" means any officeholder in the United States, why has Congress not already impeached and convicted Andrew Cuomo IRL? It is because that is not what it means! "Civil officers of the United States" refers to officials of the executive branch of the United States government, and only those officials. It does not refer to officials of the legislative branch, which is why senators cannot be impeached, and it does not refer to regional or state officials.

Unless something dramatic has happened to the English language versus IRL in the last couple of months, these words still mean what they meant in the U.S. constitution. "Civil officers of the Republic of Atlasia" refers to the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the secretary of federal elections/registrar general —no others.