Friday, January 08, 2021

Impeachment II

The latest is that Speaker Pelosi has threatened Trump with the appalling distinction of becoming the only president to be impeached twice unless he immediately resigns. And making matters worse (for Trump) is that the impeachment may not be a purely symbolic act. It is possible that Trump could be impeached and tried even after leaving office. It has actually happened before. In 1876 William Belknap, President Grant's Secretary of War was impeached and tried AFTER he had resigned for corruption. 

8 comments:

Greg DeLassus said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/lisa-murkowski-trump-resign.html

123 said...

And removal from office is not the only sanction available if Trump is convicted by the Senate. "The Constitution also permits the Senate to permanently disqualify an impeached official from holding 'any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States'."

"The Constitution is silent on whether, after an official has already been impeached and removed from office, imposing the additional sanction of disqualification requires a supermajority vote [i.e., the 2/3 majority vote to convict an impeached official]. In the past, however, the Senate determined that a simple majority vote is sufficient for disqualification. Judge Archibald was disqualified by a vote of 39-35 after he was removed from office. To be clear, such a simple majority vote may only take place after the Senate has already voted to convict an impeached official. Two-thirds of the Senate must first agree to remove someone from office before that official can be disqualified — a simple majority cannot, acting on its own, disqualify an official from holding future office."

"In all of American history, only three individuals — former federal judges West Humphreys, Robert Archibald, and Thomas Porteous — have been permanently barred from holding future office."

"And although the Congress may only remove and/or disqualify a public official, federal prosecutors may still bring criminal charges against that official in federal court."

"In any event, overcoming the hurdle of convicting Trump will be difficult. For the moment, Republicans still control the Senate — although Senators-elect Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) will make it a 50-50 Senate evenly between the two parties once they are sworn in, Georgia is not required to certify their electoral victories until January 22. And even if Warnock and Ossoff are able to vote on impeachment, Democrats would still need to convince at least 17 Republicans to convict Trump."

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Trump will be the Left's/ideological conservative's Emmanuel Goldstein for the next 10 years.

123 said...

No, because Trump clearly exists.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

And 74 milion people who voted for him. You apparatchiks are going to be busy.

unreconstructed rebel said...

Vengence is a dish best served cold. Everybody calm down.

123 said...

Nixon received a much higher percentage of the vote and was rightly being impeached and removed from office. The only difference is he and most of his supporters were able to feel shame and believes the rule of law was more than a rhetorical cudgel to use against an underclass who doesn’t know it’s place c. 1960.

unreconstructed rebel said...

123, you need to review what actually happened with Nixon. Your recollections are sloppy & border on "fake news". BTW, suggesting that anyone needs to "know his place" is extremely offensive.