Impeachment
January 26, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump: the text of the Constitution only requires the Chief Justice to preside over the trial of “the President.” The text of the Constitution only requires the Chief Justice to preside over a Senate impeachment trial of “the President.” Trump is no longer “the President.” Roberts’s presence is therefore not called for. Will private citizen Trump
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January 25, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
As expected, Chief Justice Roberts has declined to preside at the Senate trial of President Trump. Roberts is not required to preside because Trump is not the president. Clearly, he wants no part of the proceeding. You might think that, in Roberts’ absence, Kamala Harris would preside. After all, as vice president of the U.S., she is president of the Senate. However, the “honor” will go instead to Sen. Patrick
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January 25, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
This is the last in my series of posts called “On Impeachment.” Part One is here. Part Two, which set forth some presumptions about impeaching a president, is here. Part Three is here. It discussed the free speech problem with impeaching President Trump for stating his view about the election. Part Four considered the merits of impeaching Trump for what he urged protesters to do. In this post, I want
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January 24, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Today comes word via Senator Rand Paul that Chief Justice Roberts will not preside over any Senate impeachment trial of President Trump: the text of the Constitution only requires the Chief Justice to preside over the trial of “the President.” Trump is no longer “the President.” Roberts’s presence is therefore not called for. Trump is of course a private citizen at this point. The constitutional text does not appear to
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January 23, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The effort by Democrats to impeach and convict President Trump is raising questions that, in a well-functioning society, would be reserved for law school exams. In such a society, Trump wouldn’t have acted as he did during his final days and Democrats would be content with the fact that those were his final days. One question raised is whether a president can be impeached after he leaves office. A second
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January 22, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
On Election Day 1964, I handed out pro-Lyndon Johnson leaflets to voters at Connecticut Park Elementary school in Wheaton, Maryland. My friend Bruce stood nearby handing out pro-Barry Goldwater material. As he offered his literature, Bruce’s would say, “Good afternoon, sir (or ma’am), vote for Senator Goldwater.” The sirs and ma’ams seemed disinclined to follow Bruce’s advice. Most were stone faced. Some pushed back. “You’ve got to be kidding” and
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January 22, 2021 — John Hinderaker
OK, the year is young. But Chuck Schumer’s classic moment on the Senate floor today promises to be a contender. First, the entertainment: SCHUMER: "Senators will have to decide if Donald John Trump incited the erection." pic.twitter.com/zL4UDs9UbK — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 22, 2021 I will say that Trump has incited something of the sort in Democrats for the last four years. The more serious point here is that the
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January 21, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The single Article of Impeachment passed by the House states, in pertinent part: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. In the months preceding
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January 19, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
I want to distinguish between two main theories of impeaching President Trump. They are impeaching him for what he said about the election and impeaching him for what he told or encouraged people to do about the election’s outcome. The House of Representative’s article of impeachment mingles the two into a stew it hopes tastes and smells like insurrection. The potpourri is heavy on what Trump said about the election
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January 18, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
In this post on impeachment, I want to state some presumptions that I think should apply in impeachment proceedings, including the latest impeachment of President Trump. First, in my view, there should be a strong presumption against impeaching a president. The decision of who should be president is for the American people to make. The Constitution permits Congress to override that decision, but Congress should be very hesitant to use
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January 17, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Nancy Pelosi undoubtedly is proud of the fact that Donald Trump is now the only U.S. president in history to have been impeached twice. However, it’s a distinction Trump is unlikely to hold for long. Impeachments are likely to become a cost of doing business for American presidents. Arguably, they already are. There have been three of them in the last four presidencies. Two of the last four presidents have
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January 14, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Mitch McConnell remains the Senate Majority Leader until the new administration takes office next week. Following the impeachment of President Trump yesterday, Senator McConnell issued the following statement regarding the Senate schedule: The House of Representatives has voted to impeach the President. The Senate process will now begin at our first regular meeting following receipt of the article from the House. Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern
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January 13, 2021 — John Hinderaker
…but perhaps the dumbest. Impeachment, that is. It is fitting, in a weird way, that the Democrats talked about impeaching President Trump before he was inaugurated, and now have actually impeached him for the second time when he is about to leave office, and the impeachment can have no practical effect. Neither in 2016 nor today did impeachment relate to anything other than the irrational, visceral hatred that Democrats have
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January 13, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Watching the House impeach President Trump for the second time today, a week before Trump’s scheduled departure from office, I was reminded of the title of Abbie Hoffman’s book Revolution for the Hell of It. This was Impeachment for the Hell of It. The whole impeachment thing has become a matter of political theater, about as serious as Nancy Pelosi’s shredding of the text of Trump’s State of the Union
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January 13, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Democrats and their media complex have sought to remove President Trump from office since the day he became president. The day before yesterday the pretext was the Russia hoax. It was a day that lasted three long years, but put that to one side. Yesterday it was the Ukraine piffle (as Michael Goodwin calls it) and impeachment, round 1. Today, as Trump’s term in office comes to a close, it
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January 11, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Ridiculous though it may be, Nancy Pelosi apparently is serious about impeaching President Trump. This will have zero practical effect, of course, since he is leaving office in a week. It is just an expression of the insane hatred that motivates so much of what the Democratic Party does. Impeachment after the fact has precedents. In medieval Europe, death did not make one safe from charges of heresy. An alleged
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January 10, 2021 — Steven Hayward
I was caught up short yesterday when I spotted, on the generally very pro-Trump American Greatness website, William B. Allen’s article entitled “Let Us Impeach Him.” It pays to read past the headline of this article, because the argument is not what you think: it’s not a “get-him-out-office-as-fast-as-we-can” manifesto. Rather, Prof. Allen argues that we should take our time and impeach Trump after he leaves office, thereby allowing scope for
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