Posted on 02/10/2021 6:21:43 AM PST by george76
Up until now the only precedent for impeaching former officials was the Belknap case involving President Grant's Secretary of War who had resigned in an attempt to avert impeachment, only for the Senate to vote that former officials could be impeached him. Belknap was however acquitted because enough senators voted against on the grounds that the Senate did not have jurisdiction.
And that was back in the 1870s.
In its desperation to get President Trump, Democrats and some Republicans, including Mitt Romney, decided to create a much more binding precedent that will make it possible to try former presidents. And it's unlikely that Senate Republicans will even have the presence of mind to do what Republicans in the 1870s did, which was vote against it on the grounds that the Senate doesn't have the jurisdiction to try former officials.
This means that this piece of political theater will have consequences that will reverberate down the road in ways we can't even begin to predict.
The Supreme Court could in theory pivot the other way. So could future legislatures. But the Supreme Court has generally avoided intervening in impeachments on grounds other than violations of the specific wording of the Constitution, though even Chief Justice Roberts showed that he believed that this impeachment was illegitimate by refusing to attend.
The 56-44 vote was not only a spiteful attack on President Trump. It not only violated basic norms that distinguished this country's respect for free speech from Europe, but it was also thoughtless and mindless. Few to none of the 56 seemed to have given any consideration to anything except current politics.
And yet they've introduced a fundamental change in the impeachment power that brings it more into line with the systems of old England rather than America.
They've turned a proceeding meant to remove elected officials into a free pass for pursuing vendettas against them long after they have left office.
And everyone will likely have cause to regret that.
“The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
“Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”
We have become a s*hole banana republic.
Which "legal" scholars?
His best defense would have been to make the other side look ridiculous and mock them. Videos of Chuck Schumer threatening violence before the Supreme Court, The Best of Kamala Harris rants etc. etc. Pat Buchanan back in 1974 showed how easy it was to mock aDemocrats to their faces and make them look like the fools they are. This is an absurd proceeding and merits a creative response.
Impeach Ford for falling down the steps. Impeach Reagan for picking Bush.
RT
RT
@RTintl
33m
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IDENTIFY four people present during CAPITOL SHOOTING - asks Babbitt's legal team
Ashli Babbitt was GUNNED down and KILLED at the Capitol riots on Jan 6th by a POLICE officer.
Her legal team have released their first statement, over one month after the event:
‘We want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of the Babbitt family. We are early in the investigative process, but we need to identify a few key witnesses. We would also greatly appreciate any video footage of the incident’.
This article has a dumb premise. The author assumes precedent is being set. Let’s say a future GOP congress attempts to impeach Biden in the exact same manner as being done to Trump right now. The left will make the argument that Trump is currently making, and the media will declare the left is correct and any impeachment of Biden is unconstitutional. And that will be that.
Double standards don’t matter. Hypocrisy doesn’t matter. And finally, Precedent, of all things, doesn’t matter.
January 30, 1661: Oliver Cromwell Executed Two Years After Death!
Major Dan By MAJOR DAN January 30, 2014 197 Comments
On January 30, 1661, Oliver Cromwell, former Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was removed from his grave and “executed” 2 years after his death!
https://www.historyandheadlines.com/january-30-1661-cromwell-executed-two-years-death/
Effin idiots and this includes Trump for showing up for the charade.
TEXANS, we need to get out of this failed experiment. Support #TEXIT and HB1359
But you have to keep voting for the R
No matter how bad they are
Rah Rah Romney
Hail Hail Haley
Our Republic was over at noon on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009, when both parties abrogated the Constitution by swearing in an ineligible usurper.
From 1846:
“I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by [the] House for everything I did during the time I held any public office.”
- John Quincy Adams
I disagree. They are thinking ahead to future threats to their power. At this time, they are sending a message to any who might challenge them.
Their actions are those of dictators who feel confident that they will never again face a challenge to their power. Soon enough, they will stop paying lip service to the Constitution.
They imagine that they will consolidate absolute power over a giant territory. The Roman empire fell apart when it was weakened.
Personally, I'd rather see us fall apart, so that those who believe they want to live in tyranny can do so, while leaving alone those of us who want to live free.
"It" being the House impeachment. While that may be a close call, the Chief Justice of the USSC appears to disagree.
What should be clear is that this Senate proceeding in the absence of the Chief Justice is on quite doubtful terms; but that will require a formal hearing before the USSC itself.
From the article:
"But the Supreme Court has generally avoided intervening in impeachments on grounds other than violations of the specific wording of the Constitution..."
If the court agrees the CJ was not needed for the trial, then the Judiciary has stopped being an effective means of checks and balances and a Dem Senate with a simple majority vote, may amend the Constitution as desires to suit its purposes.
Now Barak Obama can be impeached for bringing us the plague called Black Lives Matter.
That plague is much more onerous than anything done bu Donald Trump
Good, in 2022 we can go after Obama and Holder for Fast and Furious, Hillary and Obama for Benghazi and Biden for Ukraine.
1) Call out Harris for not being a Natural Born Citizen as defined in Sen. Resolution 511 (2008). Neither of her parents were ‘... American citizen parents’ at her birth. Do so by asking for the names of her American citizen parents, as noticed in the Resolution.
2) If they still want to impeach someone, call out Obama for not being a Natural Born Citizen and remove the 44th President from history by impeachment.
3) Then suggest they impeach Joe Biden for election fraud for accepting an unqualified VP as running mate. Then they can impeach every Senator who voted to confirm Harris or Obama on election fraud grounds.
4) Have the FEC de-certify the Democrat National Committee as an on-going criminal enterprise for proposing unqualified candidates in past elections. Overnite all the (D)s become (I)s.
5) Challenge the seats of all members of Congress who voted to certify Gropin’ Joe and Kamalatoes and remove the ones elected in fraud-ridden elections.
6) After the trial, put up a ‘Help Wanted’ with the thought of firing and replacing 2/3 of all non-military federal workers. That would include the entire FBI, DOJ, and the arrest of all CIA operatives found stateside.
You can find the meaning of Natural Born Citizen here.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_Statutes_at_Large/Volume_1/1st_Congress/2nd_Session/Chapter_3
Look for this part:
“And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, Also, children of citizens born beyond sea, &c. or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States”
That seems to be a painfully clear definition of what was meant by “Natural Born Citizen” to me; that regardless of location of birth, American kids belong to their parents. Just as foreign kids belong to their parents regardless of location of birth.
There you have it. THE GREAT RESET to MAGA!
“The 56-44 vote”
Since when do a room full of senators vote to decide whether or not something is constitutional?
That’s not the way it’s done.
BINGO’
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