[JURIST] US Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) [official website] Sunday announced his intention to introduce two censure resolutions [press release] against President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and other administration officials, saying that the formal condemnation is necessary because of the administration's conduct "before and during the Iraq war, and for undermining the rule of law at home." One of the censure resolutions will focus on the administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program, its "extreme policies on torture, the Geneva conventions" and detention at Guantanamo Bay, and also the administration's refusal to "recognize legitimate congressional oversight" into the controversial firings of US Attorneys [JURIST news archives]. Feingold said the other censure resolution will focus on the administration's handling of Iraq, which Feingold claims has overstretched the US armed forces in a conflict falsely justified by overstated claims of Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and links with terrorism. Feingold also said the administration continues to repeatedly distort the situation on the ground to justify the US' continued military presence, and has failed to adequately plan for the occupation problems that the intelligence community had predicted.

Last March, Feingold introduced [JURIST report] a censure resolution against President Bush for his approval of the NSA surveillance program, which received lukewarm reception [JURIST report] from congressional Democrats. The proposal failed to proceed further than a hearing [materials; JURIST report] in the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. Reuters has more.