On 2/5/2021 7:35 AM, Muggles wrote:
Trying a president who left office is Unconstitutional.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3CR...ature=youtu.be
Not according to this Repub.
"One of Washingtons leading conservative constitutional lawyers
publicly broke on Sunday with the main Republican argument against
convicting former President Donald J. Trump in his impeachment trial,
asserting that an ex-president can indeed be tried for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
In an opinion piece posted on The Wall Street Journals website, the
lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, who is closely allied with top Republicans in
Congress, dismissed as illogical the claim that it is unconstitutional
to hold an impeachment trial for a former president. The piece came two
days before the Senate was set to start the proceeding, in which Mr.
Trump is charged with €śincitement of insurrection€ť in connection with
the deadly assault on the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6.
Since the rampage, Republicans have made little effort to excuse Mr.
Trumps conduct, but have coalesced behind the legal argument about
constitutionality as their rationale for why he should not be tried,
much less convicted. Their theory is that because the Constitutions
penalty for an impeachment conviction is removal from office, it was
never intended to apply to a former president, who is no longer in office.
Many legal scholars disagree, and the Senate has previously held an
impeachment trial of a former official €” though never a former
president. But 45 Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky, the minority leader who is said to believe that Mr. Trump
committed impeachable offenses, voted last month to dismiss the trial as
unconstitutional on those grounds.
Mr. Cooper said they were misreading the Constitution.
€śThe provision cuts against their interpretation,€ť he wrote. He argued
that because the Constitution allows the Senate to bar officials
convicted of impeachable offenses from holding public office again in
the future, €śit defies logic to suggest that the Senate is prohibited
from trying and convicting former officeholders.€ť "
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/u...3e91b65130eb97