I have noticed quite a few people starting “petitions” to do a variety of things, however most of the recent ones do not understand the actual process and power of a petition. Article III of our Bill of Rights states:
To summarize, petitions do not have any legal power until they reach 30 signatures, at which point the government entity being petitioned has to respond to the petition.
An example would be if I was petitioning the Governor for the removal of a Department of Corrections Assistant Warden who I might believe was free-ranked.
My petition would have no affect on the situation unless it reaches 30 signatures, at which point the Governor must recognize my petition and respond to it. Depending on the response, the Assistant Warden gets removed from their position, or they stay. If they stay, I still want to petition for my cause.
My next goal for my petition is to reach 100 signatures, at which point Congress must draft legislation on the issue. In this case, it could be legislation to prevent free-ranking, or something like that. Note however, that Congress cannot remove any department official if they are not the Secretary or Deputy Secretary equivalent in that department, per Article I of the Constitution, limiting impeachments to Government Officials.
Now that you understand how petitions work, can we please stop shit-posting the same petitions over and over again? If you want to change something, focus your combined energy into one post so you can reach the signature milestones.
Thanks for understanding,
Techiey
Speaker of the House