# Is there any legal justification for impeachment of Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573 "2012-11-10T13:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/81 "2012-11-13T03:40:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > . . . Now, if you want to stipulate that, from this point forward, Congress will impeach any president who lies in the SotU address, that’s fine. You will, I’m sure, change the nature of the game. The president will find some other venue where he can give the political part of that speech. . . . I never said that. I only agreed with another poster who suggested that lying in a constitutionally required report to Congress is a lot more serious than lying in a matter unrelated to the constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/82 "2012-11-13T04:26:09Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I never said that. I only agreed with another poster who suggested that lying in a constitutionally required report to Congress is a lot more serious than lying in a matter unrelated to the constitution. But there’s a law about lying under oath and no law forbidding a lie to Congress in the context of a SotU address. So the state of the law does not agree with your assessment about which is more serious. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/83 "2012-11-13T05:13:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But there’s a law about lying under oath and no law forbidding a lie to Congress in the context of a SotU address. > > So the state of the law does not agree with your assessment about which is more serious. Charming, but irrelevant to what I actually said. I said “more serious,” not “illegal.” ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/84 "2012-11-13T05:33:08Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But there’s a law about lying under oath and no law forbidding a lie to Congress in the context of a SotU address. > > So the state of the law does not agree with your assessment about which is more serious. But the state of the law has little to do with impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/85 "2012-11-13T06:08:19Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I never said that. I only agreed with another poster who suggested that lying in a constitutionally required report to Congress is a lot more serious than lying in a matter unrelated to the constitution. Why? Do you honestly think that anyone takes the contents of the SotU speech in the same way one would take the contents of a deposition? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen anyone stand up and clap after the witness makes a comment in a deposition. Yes, the constitution requires the prez to update the Congress “from time to time” on the state of the union. But that doesn’t mean that a SotU speech isn’t mostly theatrical. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/86 "2012-11-13T23:20:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > . . . I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen anyone stand up and clap after the witness makes a comment in a deposition. . . . You’d be amazed at what sometimes happens in courtrooms! My uncle once stunned an entire courtroom into utter silence with an unguarded answer to a question. I think laughter was about to break out, but the judge cleared his throat meaningfully, and the other attendees got the message. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/87 "2012-11-14T14:54:35Z")
I’ve noticed a great tendency for people to describe things they don’t like as “illegal.” Just because you disagree does not make it an act of criminality. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/88 "2012-11-14T14:58:40Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Of course, I thought the impeachment of Clinton was frivilous (he lied under oath about his sex practices) and made the Republicans look stupid, but for some reason they didn’t ask my opinion. Dex, it wasn’t frivolous. Clinton committed a felony while in office. It doesn’t matter what the context was; he perjured himself and was very correctly impeached for doing so. And very incorrectly not removed from office because the Senate played politics instead of looking at the facts. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/89 "2012-11-14T19:12:39Z")
Right-wingers on this Board continually complain that they’re not treated with respect. But we often witness opinions like the preceding. Do they sincerely believe that Clinton _should_ have been removed from office for his lie about infidelity, and that Bush-43(\*) did _not_ deserve removal despite that he lied to start the Trillion-Dollar Blunder in Iraq? Can you understand why this seems like astoundingly poor sense of perspective to some of us? Is it just that Bush wasn’t under oath when he appeared before Congress? Is that why the Iraq lies were acceptable? (\* - Or, change this to the impeachment of Cheney and Rove if you prefer to argue that Bush was just an incompetent puppet.) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573/90 "2012-11-14T20:06:15Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Do they sincerely believe that Clinton _should_ have been removed from office for his lie about infidelity, and that Bush-43(\*) did _not_ deserve removal despite that he lied to start the Trillion-Dollar Blunder in Iraq? Can you understand why this seems like astoundingly poor sense of perspective to some of us? > > Is it just that Bush wasn’t under oath when he appeared before Congress? Is that why the Iraq lies were acceptable? I opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning, and I just don’t believe that the unjustified and stupid invasion of Iraq is a high crime or misdemeanor. It is bad policy that deserved to be rectified through an election, and we all know how 2004 turned out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-impeachment-of-obama/640573.md?page=4)