According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 the third in line for the Presidency is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. So if Bush and Cheney happened to be, say, impeached, the office would go to Pelosi until the inauguration. Is this mere spite on my part? Perhaps. But there is also evidence that the current administration (read: lawless right wing extremists) intend to do as much damage as possible in what time they have left.
NY Times reports on the expected shenangigans in the next couple of weeks. Environmental regulation alone is the expected nightmare and the damage will be hard to undo.
Politically no one needs cover for a minimum of two years. If we remove them from office before their time it may prevent them from destroying evidence of other crimes.
Unlikely? Yes but why settle for less.
But, you may say, Impeachment is only for high crimes and misdemeanors. Wouldn't there have to be proof? (I understand this isn't a hard sell on this site but work with me)
I Am Not A Lawyer but the Plame case seems open and shut where Cheney's concerned. The question of whether anything can be traced back to Bush can only be found out with power of subpoena and failure to answer Congress should be answered with jail. Bush may have 'plausible deniabilty', he's obviously somewhat of an idiot and I wouldn't blame them for keeping him out of the loop, but he should have to answer the hard questions. And the sooner the better.