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The Hole in the Impeachment Case. Missing from the charges against Trump: An impeachable offense
National Review ^ | January 18, 2020 | Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted on 01/19/2020 5:33:24 AM PST by billorites

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1 posted on 01/19/2020 5:33:24 AM PST by billorites
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To: billorites

Humpty Dumpty says an impeachable offense is whatever I say it is


2 posted on 01/19/2020 5:42:16 AM PST by griswold3 (Democratic Socialism is Slavery by Mob Rule)
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To: billorites

The ‘Rats announced their intention to impeach back in 2016.

In other words, the ground for impeachment is that a candidate won who is not a Democrat Party choice.


3 posted on 01/19/2020 5:44:52 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: billorites
The US Supreme Court should--in fact must--declare this "impeachment" unconstitutional.

(1) It does not meet the criteria for impeachment cited specifically in the Constitution: treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors; no crime was committed.

(2) For the Supreme Court to fail to declare this "impeachment" unconstitutional will make it legal de facto and de jure, and this will give the Legislative Branch of the Government carte blanche in the future to nullify the election to the Presidency of anyone the Legislative Branch wishes to impeach and for no constitutional reason, in fact for no reason whatsoever.

(3) Furthermore, this precedent establishes the authority of the Legislative Branch to impeach not only the President but also the Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Secretary of State, and so on down the line of succession until the Legislators find a President suitable to them.

(4) Thus this places the Legislative Branch in authority over the Executive Branch, inasmuch as the President et al. will serve at the pleasure of the Legislative Branch.

(5) It also gives the Legislative Branch de facto control of US elections inasmuch as legislators can impeach elected officials in sequence until they reach one they approve and establish him/her as President of the USA. The President will then serve only at the pleasure of the legislators, knowing that he/she can be impeached at any time and a President more favorable to them selected.

(6) It therefore nullifies the separation of powers between the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Government, making the Executive Branch subservient to the Legislative.

This precedent could not be more dangerous.

The Supreme Court MUST act immediately to establish the constitutionality of the impeachment process and the unconstitutionality of "impeachment" that does not meet the requirements cited in the Constitution.

Giuliani agrees. He must have been lurking here on Free Republic.

Rudy Giuliani: Supreme Court Should Dismiss The Impeachment Trial Against President Trump

”Rudy Giuliani argued that the Supreme Court should dismiss the impeachment trial against President Trump. "There's nothing in the Constitution that would allow the Supreme Court" to do that, Giuliani allowed, but "there’s also nothing in the Constitution that allows the Supreme Court to declare a law of Congress unconstitutional. Marshall made it up."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/01/12/rudy_giuliani_supreme_court_should_dismiss_the_impeachment_trial_against_president_trump.html


4 posted on 01/19/2020 5:45:15 AM PST by Savage Beast (George Orwell's 1984 nightmare is the Democrats' Dream.)
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To: Savage Beast

> The US Supreme Court should—in fact must—declare this “impeachment” unconstitutional. <

I must respectfully disagree. The Supreme Court must not interfere in any impeachment. The president appoints the Supreme Court members. So it is conceivable that a president would have majority support on the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court could interfere, then such a president could not be impeached. No matter what the House said, the Court could just say no. Then we’re back to the tyranny the Founders wanted to avoid.

As for the “high crime” requirement, in the language of the day that meant any misbehavior by a high public official. Benjamin Franklin even once remarked that a president could be impeached just for being rude!

You mentioned that impeachment gives the Legislative Branch de facto control of US presidential elections. That is an excellent point. The Founders tried to avoid that problem by requiring the high hurdle of 2/3 needed to convict in the Senate.

But that safeguard is weakened now that we have the direct election of senators.


5 posted on 01/19/2020 6:05:26 AM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: billorites

This whole mess is caused by lack of objective rules of evidence to establish that a crime has been committed and to prove that the president committed one. The result of subjectivity is the actions of a lynch mob.


6 posted on 01/19/2020 6:33:19 AM PST by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: billorites

Democrats themselves have taken Ukraine off the table by trivializing it with impeachment.

They lose the case in the Senate, it also loses value as a political issue against the President.

All because Democrats couldn’t help themselves in their hatred of Trump, Now they’re going to get hoist on their own petard.

Which is exactly why they shouldn’t have impeached him in the first place.


7 posted on 01/19/2020 6:37:21 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: billorites

We have to assume that Trump’s lawyers will, early on, ask Schiff to plainly lay out the laws broken and crimes committed by Trump.

Schiff will stand mute.

Early dismissal of impeachment charges.


8 posted on 01/19/2020 6:43:00 AM PST by odawg
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To: Leaning Right

I think the best thing I have learned in all this is the Framers never intended impeachment be essentially a Parliamentary “Vote of No Confidence” which Pelosi has turned it into.


9 posted on 01/19/2020 6:44:10 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Savage Beast
no crime was committed

That's for the fact-finder to say.

Your proposal would repeat the Bush v. Gore disaster, maybe the largest power grab by one branch over another in our history.

If you understand "shall not be infringed" (and I'm sure you do), you have to also understand "shall have the SOLE power to try all impeachments".

SCOTUS cannot try an impeachment. Period.

10 posted on 01/19/2020 6:51:01 AM PST by Jim Noble (There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know)
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To: billorites
Adam Schiff is a smart guy. He did not idly dream up a “make up dirt” parody. He framed it because he knows that’s the kind of misconduct you would need to prove to warrant impeachment and removal of a president. In fact, Schiff could never prove that, but he figured parody is good enough for 2020 campaign purposes — and that’s what this exercise is all about.

Trump released the transcript the morning of the Schiff's make up dirt hearing. I read the transcript that morning. Then on the way home mid afternoon I listened to C-Span radio and heard the "parody". I was completely astounded. I actually think what happened is one of Schiff's staffers made up the fake transcript days before the hearing believing the transcript would not be released. At that point Schiff read the fake because that was the plan and he was sticking with it. Then a few days later he relabeled it a parody.

Adam Schiff is not a smart guy.

11 posted on 01/19/2020 6:57:43 AM PST by palmer (Democracy Dies Six Ways to Sunday)
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To: Savage Beast

Not the Legislative branch, but the Praetorian Guard (AKA the Deep State) would control who was President. Just like in Ancient Rome, after the fall of the Republic.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat them. Again and again and ..........


12 posted on 01/19/2020 7:04:37 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: odawg

Like so much of the tactics of the America/American-hating Democrat/Left Party, these “charges” have disappeared. In this latest round (Season 4, Episode 2) the Left’s attack has morphed into that the President must be removed because he is an “immediated danger to American sovereignty”. And like so much of the tactics of the America/American-hating Democrat/Left Party, this latest attempt at the Left’s coup d’etat is quite clearly a projection.


13 posted on 01/19/2020 7:09:57 AM PST by glennaro
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To: mjp
This whole mess is caused by lack of objective rules of evidence to establish that a crime has been committed and to prove that the president committed one. The result of subjectivity is the actions of a lynch mob.

Well stated. Both science (ala global warming) and law (endles alas) have lost all pretense of objectivity. So it is all a sickening game of playing to emotions.

14 posted on 01/19/2020 7:38:26 AM PST by gloryblaze
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To: palmer

After hearing the Schiff parody, my thought was that if you were on some nifty drugs...hearing this from some office co-worker, you might be doped-up enough to play this as some part of reality (when it wasn’t). I think the guy is on some form of medication, and just lost control of his thought process.

Maybe if he gets under some stress there in the senate chamber, you might get the right conditions where he launches into another parody moment, and Justice Roberts asks for a recess while he tries to figure out what to do with a heavily medicated Schiff.


15 posted on 01/19/2020 7:39:33 AM PST by pepsionice
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To: billorites

A big hole is no crime was committed.
Only crimes revealed have all been by democrats taking huge bribes.

Trump Legal Team: Impeachment Articles ‘Constitutionally Invalid’
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/18/trump-legal-team-impeachment-articles-constitutionally-invalid/


16 posted on 01/19/2020 7:42:39 AM PST by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....)
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To: billorites

Obstructing Congress is not a crime, it’s the duty of any President worth his salt to obstruct insanity incarnate and Nancy Pelosi’s congress is insanity incarnate. Besides, every President since Washington has obstructed congress.


17 posted on 01/19/2020 7:58:06 AM PST by jerod (Nazi's were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: billorites

What I’m wondering is after the impeachment farce collapses of its own weight, will Trump, at some point, yank the Dems’ chain by telling some Putin stooge, loudly and publicly, “Tell Vladamir I’ll have more flexibility after the election.”?


18 posted on 01/19/2020 8:02:14 AM PST by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: billorites

However true the lack of an impeachable offense is, 45 Bolshies will vote for it.


19 posted on 01/19/2020 8:03:41 AM PST by depressed in 06 (60 in '20. Now, more than ever!)
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To: billorites

Yeah, but it’s the seriousness of the charges!

[/s]

So what if neither of the articles rise to the level.

Obstruction of Congress is moot. Branch vs Branch.

Abuse of Authority has to have at least some evidence of abuse. Even Shiffy could not find any and had to dismiss the whistleblower.


20 posted on 01/19/2020 8:05:38 AM PST by TomGuy
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