Posted on 12/25/2019 5:26:48 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The recent impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives is an accusation that President Trump has committed high crimes — an accusation and nothing more. By law, President Trump is presumed to be innocent of the accusation until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the alleged crimes in a court of law. One of the world's oldest principles of jurisprudence, the presumption of innocence was first codified into Roman law under the sixth-century emperor Justinian: "Proof lies on him who asserts [in this case, the House] — not on him who denies [the president]." The principle was based on Roman legal practices from the third century.
The presumption of innocence is a cardinal principle of the United States justice system. The Constitution's Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments all support the principle with express language to protect the accused. The Sixth includes the right of the accused to a "speedy trial." In Coffin v. United States, the 1895 Supreme Court ruled:
The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law [of the United States], axiomatic and elementary.
This POI principle is further encoded in the legal systems of the United Nations under Article 11 of its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well in the constitutions and/or legal codes of every major country, including socialist China and Russia.
Thus, President Trump does not have to prove anything. The burden of proof that crimes have been committed lies solely and entirely on the accuser, the House of Representatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Try telling that to the average slob!
I believe the impeachment should be expunged when the charges are deemed without merit in the Senate.
The Criminal State has the house. Nancy Satan has the gavel. We the people can doxx “in order to form a more perfect union”. Think twice ‘rats. There will be no sanctuary cities or sanctuary ratholes. Think Saddam. Americans are still sharp from hunting season.
Merry Christmas!
Republican president accused of not acting like a Democrat. That’s a high crime.
Maybe nothing more....but 230+ representatives voted for it. This couldn’t be political could it?
ORANGE MAN BAD PEACH FOTI FI
“By law, President Trump is presumed to be innocent of the accusation until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the alleged crimes in a court of law.”
This is obviously an incorrect statement.
The impeachment/conviction process spelled out in the Constitution does not involve any court of law. There is no punishment except removal from office.
There is no burden of proof specified in the constitution (preponderance of evidence vs. clear and convincing vs. beyond a reasonable doubt). So the author has not explained where he gets the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard from.
There is no appeal or other review process.
When an article starts off like this, it tells you the author isn’t thinking.
The impeachment/conviction process is analogous to an indictment (not a mere charge) and a trial, but the analogy only goes so far, and no one really knows how closely it resembles a criminal trial, except that there are certain ways in which it CLEARLY is not like a criminal trial.
To give one example: A criminal trial requires a unanimous verdict. Conviction in the Senate requires only 2/3 of Senators present voting to convict.
What is reasonable to say is that traditional notions of due process, substantial justice and fair play should prevail. Of course some of those who are after Trump’s scalp would deny, and do deny, that even these basic norms of Anglo-American jurisprudence, developed over the 800 years since the Magna Carta, apply.
Impeachment is a charge. This latest impeachment is A charge that has not even been brought to court. A charge that has no trial date. As such, it is a meaningless and baseless accusation. Without merit.
Like Indictment, it is meaningless without a conviction.
Rep Schiff says the evidence against PDJT is “rock solid”.
It’s got to be in the Articles of Impeachment.
I’m not sure where. Can anyone help me?
The corruptocrats in the house are never going to get back to work. They need to expunged and replaced with people who have a record of doing the people’s business.
Rare birds.
It's probably like some of the supreme court rulings. You have to look at the penumbra to discern all the info hidden from plain view. ;-)
With Trump the process of justice is incomplete. Only the accusation and the gathering of some information has been done. There is no official verdict yet.
Totally agree with this article and it’s one of the reasons why Chuck Schumer is so infuriating when he keeps saying the president hasn’t brought forward any evidence to exonerate himself. The president does not need to prove his innocence.
The power to impeach is NOT absolute. The Bill of Right amends the other constitutional powers, including impeachment. In other words, the president is entitled to the same rights as every other citizen as well as some additional rights, like executive privilege, by virtue of being the chief executive.
Congressional Democrats are the ones who are violating their oaths to uphold the constitution. The president doesn’t just have to bend over backwards to let representatives tie up and rip through his administration in search of crimes. That’s not proper congressional oversight. It’s a witch hunt.
Disagreements over the extent of impeachment powers belong in the SCOTUS.
“I believe her” tells us that accusation is supposed to be proof if the accuser is someone you like and the accused is someone you hate.
Thank you for the post.
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When a forum such as American Thinker has an author stating:
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“until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the alleged crimes in a court of law.”
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OK, what court of law are they referring to?
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American Thinker needs to hire more enlightened editors and authors.
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You could learn far more by readig FR.
Tell the average slob it’s no different than a Grand Jury indictment, A grand jury only sees if there is enough evidence to to justify a trial, and like the House they do NOT look at any evidence that would clear the accused.
A full trial after indictment (or impeachment) is done by a body that hears ALL the evidence, not the effective kangaroo court that only hears the innuendo and rumors of a crime.
A Grand Jury could hear that the bank robber was the same height and build as the accused, had a limp like the accused, and that the getaway car was the same make and model as the accused’s car. They wouldn’t hear that the accused was the best man at a wedding in the Bahamas at the time of the robbery, nor see any of the wedding photos...
Oh...wait a sec...that wasn't President Trump, that was members of the previous administration. Apparently President Trump's only real crime is he's trying to (and having more than a little success at) Making America Great Again. The leftist really don't want that, and they really really hate how he's going about it.
This fact is self-evident from the 'rats public statements. They were talking about impeaching President Trump since the moment he was elected. They wanted an impeachment, so they went looking for an excuse. First it was going to be Russian collusion, at one point it was going to be mental incapacitation, at another it was going to be bribery, then quid pro quo, then abuse of power, then...generally anything and everything the 'rats could think of. They have obviously been casting about looking for anything they could use.
Now they're making it even more obvious that impeachment is a political tool, not a response to a serious crime by a President. The 'rats are already talking about impeaching the President again. What for? Oh, it doesn't matter, they'll find some pretext. Talk about abuse of power.
The real lesson here, what every single American should take away from this: The Democrats have nothing for America. They have been working on virtually (perhaps even literally) nothing for the last 3+ years except trying to thwart and remove a duly elected President. The democrats are not interested in improving the economy. The democrats are not interested in improving national security. The democrats are not interested in creating jobs. No, the democrats sole focus has been going after President Trump. Why? Apparently because he is exercising the power of his office to Make America Great Again. The democrats don't want that, they apparently want to make the democrats great and powerful again.
There's your choice America - a President working for us, or an un-American, anti-American party working to obtain power and control over us.
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