Mark Nickolas over at Bluegrass Report pulled a great quote from a speech Mitch McConnell made back in 1999 during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. I've reprinted it here. Pay particular attention to the final statement, McConnell quoted Justice Louis Brandeis:

I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors...

Perjury and obstruction hammer away at the twin pillars of our legal system: truth and justice. Every witness in every deposition is required to raise his or her right hand and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. Every witness in every grand jury proceeding and in every trial is required to raise his or her right hand and swear to tell the truth. Every official declaration filed with the court is stamped with the express affirmation that the declaration is true. In the words of our nation's first Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay: 'if oaths should cease to be held sacred, our dearest and most valuable rights would become insecure.'

The facts clearly show that the President did not value the sacred oath. He was interested in saving his hide, not truth and justice. I submit to my colleagues that if we have no truth and we have no justice, then we have no nation of laws. No public official, no president, no man or no woman is important enough to sacrifice the founding principles of our legal system.

On this point, I am proud to quote Justice Louis Brandeis--a native of my hometown of Louisville and the man for whom the University of Louisville Law school is named:

'In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the laws scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker; it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.'

[Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

posted by Stithmeister @ 11:58 PM
 
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