Posted on 01/13/2021 1:45:28 PM PST by The Pack Knight
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected a plan to reconvene the Senate in an emergency session to hold trial over an impeachment article against President Trump in the House.
McConnell press secretary Doug Andres confirmed a report that the Kentucky Republican would not sanction such a move on Wednesday.
Without the emergency session, the Senate is due back in session on Jan. 19., so McConnell’s decision all but kills a Democrat-led effort to oust Trump from office before his term is up and President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. A trial over the impeachment article is unlikely to conclude within such a short time.
Democrats have proposed holding the trial over Trump’s impeachment well-into Biden’s presidency. Michael Luttig, a former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, slammed the idea on Tuesday, asserting that impeaching and removing a president after he left office is “unconstitutional.”
“It appears that even if the House of Representatives impeaches President Trump this week, the Senate trial on that impeachment will not begin until after Trump has left office and President-Elect Biden has become president on Jan. 20,” Luttig wrote in The Washington Post. “That Senate trial would be unconstitutional.”
Luttig continued:
Once Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20, Congress loses its constitutional authority to continue impeachment proceedings against him — even if the House has already approved articles of impeachment.Therefore, if the House of Representatives were to impeach the president before he leaves office, the Senate could not thereafter convict the former president and disqualify him under the Constitution from future public office.
The reason for this is found in the Constitution itself. Trump would no longer be incumbent in the Office of the President at the time of the delayed Senate proceeding and would no longer be subject to “impeachment conviction” by the Senate, under the Constitution’s Impeachment Clauses. Which is to say that the Senate’s only power under the Constitution is to convict — or not — an incumbent president.
On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a moderate, criticized the ongoing impeachment push and noted that any impeachment article passed in the House will likely not have enough support in the Senate.
“I think, my arithmetic, that means we have 19 Republicans. I don’t see that. And I think the House should know that also. We have been trying to send that message over. They know the votes aren’t there. You would think that they would do that,” Manchin said on Monday.
“I think this is so ill-advised for Joe Biden to be coming in, trying to heal the country, trying to be the president of all the people, when we’re going to be so divided and fighting again. Let the judicial system do its job,” he added. “And then, we’re a country of the rule of law. That’s the bedrock of who we are. Let that take its place. Let the investigations go on. Let the evidence come forth, and then we will go forward from there. There’s no rush to do this impeachment now. We can do it later if they think it’s necessary.”
In fact our entire government is an embarrassment now, just a bunch of lying cheating stealing morons up there
It makes me cringe
Yep, this pretty much puts the lie to all those “sources familiar” reports from the #FakeMedia.
People keep falling for that crap though.
I think the bottom line is that the issue has been controversial and the subject of legal debate, and the debate isn’t likely to be resolved by this process. As we’ve both said, Trump is unlikely to be convicted, so there is little likelihood of any courts considering the matter (even if it is justiciable).
A word about Senate precedent: I would contend that the Senate’s past acts do not form any sort of binding precedent because, even though they are acting in a judicial capacity, they don’t issue opinions setting forth their reasoning as an appellate court does.
“did any D’s vote ‘NO’?”
Unlike Republicans Dems stick together and are fearless in pressing their agenda.
Be sure to send him a thank you note.
The New York Times, Fox and Axios were issuing lies through propaganda. Democrats have been very successful with divide-and-conquer tactics and conspiracy theories. They won the general election and the runoff elections in Georgia by using those tactics. It’s easy to demoralize many of today’s blue collar conservatives, because many of them lack education, especially in logic and civics.
DITTO X 1000!
Except I think the history books will show the deceitful, petulant, vindictive Democrats in a far worse light than Trump for doing so!
“The secretary of war under President Grant was impeached after he resigned his position.”
_________________________________________________________
Yes, but was he convicted in the Senate?
I thought he wasn’t, because enough senators took the “what’s the point, he’s no longer the secretary of war” position.
not enough votes to convict
He was not convicted. But he was impeached. I’m only saying that the dems will have no hesitation in a post presidential trial.
“So you think the media is going to come out against this?”
I think the media SHOULD come out against the trashing of freedom of speech because their business needs it .......
....... but whether or no they will oppose it ????????
....... if Dershowitz defends Trump in the trial, freedom has a chance ........
You should know that communists never take blame for anything. Stop calling them democrats and start calling them what they really are: communists.
This is actually a WARNING to anybody else who thinks they will run for ANY office that upsets the hand cart.
They will come after you, your family, your friends, and all of your supporters and destroy it all.
They keep pushing the envelope and that dragon will eventually spit fire. It's time.
Those ten should go to the top of the list of those to be primaryed out of office. I notice that one of those, Cheney thinks she is beyond reach in Wy but IMO she is nothing more than a RINO of long standing. Hopefully the people of Wy learn that. She is not a friend.
Stop calling them democrats and start calling them what they really are: communists.
Bravo to someone who gets it. This asshats on the other side of the aisle have been the enemy for at least the last 40 years.
Sometime ago I was in a job that required identifying commies and their fellow travelers. Suggestions were garnered as to the best course of action. My comment was get the list of registered democrats and start there. My superior said to kill that as it was wrong to do. I wonder if he were alive today if he would feel the same way, unless of course he was one of the fellow travelers.
“... Pence then pardons Trump after taking office on the 19th ...”
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 provides that the President enjoys the pardon power, but it does not extend to cases of impeachment
The Secretary of War is not the President. The Constitution phrases the language thusly:
ARTICLE II, Section 4.
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
That language specifically uses the word “President.”
At 12 noon, January 20, 2021, Donald J. Trump will cease to be the “President,” and will once again be a private citizen. The Constitution has no provision to impeach a private citizen.
President Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Bellknap, was acquitted by the Senate, with a vote of 35 to 25, falling 5 votes short of the 2/3 majority required by the Constitution. Of the 35 senators who voted to acquit, 23 stated that the Senate had no jurisdiction to try Bellknap, because he had resigned his office before the impeachment vote was taken by Congress, and therefore was a private citizen.
“ You can’t remove a president who is not the president.
2 + 2 = 4.”
If someone can believe that women have penises, he can believe that 2+2=7.
So a private citizen WAS impeached and 23 senators believed they had no jurisdiction. But 25 thought otherwise. At LEAST 55-60 will think otherwise this time. Let’s hope it’s not 67.
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