This gives John Conyers - who was not in the secret meetings - a historically strong hand to disregard the party leader's "keep it off the table" and instead insure that justice is done.

All Conyers has to do is publicly state Pelosi's conflict - which should be obvious to anyone with legal training anyway. Note that Pelosi's compliance with torture revelations was not revealed publicly until December 2007, and impeachment was only filed yesterday. If Conyers acts now he will not be obstructing or derelict in his duty.

I've seen this raised and raised it myself repeatedly at the Daily Kos - always with recommends, and never disputed. It should be as obvious as if a prosecutor or judge said, "Yes, I was in the room while someone in the gang talked about bribes he'd made, but they said to keep it secret and I never reported it to the police." For that prosecutor or judge to later say "That bribery case is divisive and I'm keeping off the table!" would rightly lead directly to charges of obstruction of justice.

House Judiciary Chair John Conyers need only say:

Speaker Pelosi is apparently a witness who may be subpeonaed; perhaps an accessory, accomplice, or conspirator. She may also be innocent, and she may even be the whistle blower who contacted the Times. But whatever is the case, she can not in good faith be among those who decide whether the case is tried. To protect Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my colleagues from any risk of future obstruction charges, I respectfully request that Speaker Pelosi and the other Gang of 8 witnesses recuse themselves from discussion of these Articles of Impeachment, and do everything in their power to cooperate in the impeachment process.

First we have to do our part. We need to keep it on the front page so the Honorable Congressman Conyers, Huffington Post, and the press see it - so instead of being viewed as a betrayal of his party leader, making the statement above is seen as the only prudent thing he can do.

On your marks...

By the way - to Conyers or anyone else who isn't certain whether Impeachment protects the Constitution, whether or not the president is removed from office - the Impeachment discussion with Bruce Fein and John Nichols on Bill Moyers should be mandatory viewing.

Congressman Conyers, please keep your oath and do your duty.

Congressman Wexler - it's time to act decisively on your impeachment talk.

Congressman Kucinich - thanks for getting this party started.