Posted on 01/09/2021 1:42:42 PM PST by blam
Impeaching President Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency would violate the Constitution, according to legal expert Alan Dershowitz on Newsmax.
Democrats are planning to impeach Trump, who addressed a rally of supporters in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday. Later that day, demonstrators protesting the election results attacked the Capitol.
"It's unconstitutional," Dershowitz told host Carl Higbie on "Saturday Report." "I mean, you cannot impeach a president unless he's committed high crimes and misdemeanors and these don't constitute high crimes and misdemeanors, they constitute Constitutionally protected speech.
"You can condemn, you can attack, you can refuse to vote for, you can do all of those things which are politically available to you, but the one thing you can't do is use the law, which is impeachment, on something which is protected by the First Amendment."
In saying the Capitol rioters should be prosecuted for the violence, Dershowitz added the president cannot be blamed for their actions.
"[Impeaching the president] would do more enduring harm to our Constitution than even the horrible rioters did, although they are strongly to be condemned and I’m very glad they're being prosecuted to the hilt," Dershowitz said. "It’s part of the core theory of the First Amendment that you prosecute the actors, you don’t prosecute the speaker.
"The speaker has a Constitutional right to advocate … advocate, not incite … advocate, which is what president Trump did. So, going after the actors, rather than the speaker is the way our Constitution laid it out."
Dershowitz, who has said he would be willing to defend the president should Trump be impeached, expressed long-term effects if the Democrats proceed with their plans.
"The implications for the First Amendment, the implications for the Constitution are grave they go beyond this week, they are forever," he said.
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(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
He does not know yet that the Constitution is...
gone.
Thank you for being an honest liberal professor Dershowitz.
Impeach Pelosi.
Dershowitz is not a Trump fan, but he’s what a lot of old-line liberals used to be: a defender of free speech.
I saw today that the ACLU had come out against FB and Twitter for canceling Trump and his supporters. They said that if he can be cancelled right now, what is to prevent some future company from cancelling “black, brown, and LGBT” people. Granted, that would never happen, but at least the ACLU understood the fundamental issue and actually spoke out about it.
Years ago I had no trouble disagreeing with some of the Professors stands, but I always appreciated his keen mind. He is a loyal proponent of the Constitution regardless of how I either agree or disagree with his interpretations. And he is one of the foremost scholars of the document.
The Constitution? Oh, that piece of paper democrats wipe their asses with every day.
The Democrats are at the stage of using the Constitution solely as toilet paper.
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