I know I'm a nuisance

[Gordon Silverstein]

As much as Sandy understandably can't understand how Bush could maintain the
confidence of a Parliament, I dare say that if he would if he had the
majority in an American Parliament that he currently enjoys in the House and
Senate. The main difference might be that it would be far easier for his
Party to force him to jettison both cabinet officers and personal advisors
-- but at this point, even if they could, it's hard to imagine the GOP in
the House and Senate endorsing a vote of no confidence in W.
 
The American system does make provision for resignation forced by a vote of
no confidence -- but it does so through the political process rather than
through a formal legal device.
 
Let's remember that this is precisely what happened to Richard Nixon. Four
days before he announced his resignation, Nixon told Cabinet Officers he had
no intent to resign. But the next day, a Wednesday, after meeting with
Republican leaders of the House and Senate (Hugh Scott, John Rhodes and
Barry Goldwater), it was clear that he had lost the confidence of his party,
and could no longer govern. In his resignation speech that Friday Nixon
said: "In the past days, however, it has become evident to me that I no
longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify
continuing that effort"
 
The point is that both systems require the leader to maintain the support of
their own Party. The bigger difference, perhaps, is that most parliamentary
systems have more than two parties (albeit often with two dominant parties)
and therefore it is oftent the case that a leader needs the confidence of
more than just their own Party. 
 
 
- Gordon Silverstein
 
 
 
 
  _____  

From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Sanford Levinson
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 10:08 AM
To: ConLaw Prof
Subject: RE: I know I'm a nuisance



>From tomorrow's NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/politics/06intel.html

I know I'm a nuisance (and to some a "partisan ranter"), but does no one on
list share my belief that it counts as a very real defect of our
Constitution that there is no way of getting rid of an Administration that
is mendaciously incompetent beyond belief about issues of war and peace (and
therefore life and death)?
 
sandy
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