{"id":2403,"date":"2019-10-10T09:52:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T13:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2019-10-10T09:52:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T13:52:51","slug":"process-and-procedure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/10\/10\/process-and-procedure\/","title":{"rendered":"Process and Procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Impeachment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The House of Representatives began proceedings to determine whether to impeach the President of the United States.  This is an awesome responsibility, the ultimate \u201ccheck\u201d in checks and balances.  There are seemingly endless academic debates about which branch of government is the most powerful, but in that argument, impeachment and removal is always the \u201ctrump\u201d card (sorry<\/em>.)  It is the ultimate power of Congress, one that cannot be \u201cchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How awesome is impeachment and removal?\u00a0\u00a0It is such a final authority, that it has only been used against the President three times in the two hundred thirty-two year Constitutional history of our nation (Nixon dodged the process by resigning.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/em>Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868, nine months before the Presidential election.\u00a0\u00a0While there were several \u201carticles\u201d of impeachment, the major issue was that Johnson intentionally broke a law passed by Congress, the Tenure of Office Act.\u00a0\u00a0At trial in the Senate, he remained in office by a single Senator\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House impeached Bill Clinton in 1998.  While again there were several \u201carticles,\u201d the essential charge was that Clinton committed perjury by lying in a deposition.  In the Senate trial, the issue became more about whether that \u201clie\u201d constituted a removable offense, rather than the \u201cfact\u201d of the lie.  Clinton remained in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High Crimes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Normal \u201ccrimes\u201d like committing perjury or tax evasion may not be impeachable.  In 1973, the House Judiciary Committee prepared a report<\/a> viewing the history of impeachment.  It made a distinction between \u201ccommon\u201d crimes and impeachable crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all presidential misconduct is sufficient to constitute grounds for impeachment . . . Because impeachment of a President is a grave step for the nation, it is predicated only upon conduct seriously incompatible with either the constitutional form and principles of our government or the proper performance of constitutional duties of the presidential office.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impeachment is exercised solely by the House of Representatives.\u00a0\u00a0In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court had no role in impeachment or removal (United States v Nixon.)\u00a0<\/em>Impeachment is the bringing of charges against the President (or others in the executive or judicial branches) for trial in front of the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0Put simply, it is like the bringing of an indictment by a Grand Jury, with the House acting as the Prosecutor and Grand Jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indictment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Like the Grand Jury process, the defendant, in this case the President, has few \u201crights\u201d in the process.\u00a0\u00a0Grand Juries hear witnesses without cross-examination; the defense has no place in the room, or \u201cright\u201d to present evidence.\u00a0\u00a0The defense has the opportunity to present their side at trial should the Grand Jury bring charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Impeachment process is not regulated by the normal rules of criminal procedure, because Impeachment and Removal is not a criminal process.  The ultimate result is removal from office and restriction from holding future office.  The House and the Senate has the sole power to determine how that process works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the recent letter<\/a> from the President\u2019s attorneys, arguing that the current impeachment process is illegitimate, is simply bogus.  The House determines the process without oversight or appeal, the Senate determines whether to remove or not.  The Courts and the President (or his lawyers) have no role in how the procedure is determined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The White House Counsel\u2019s letter, written in legal form to resemble a court \u201cbrief,\u201d hints that the Judiciary will intervene if the Congress persists on impeachment.  But the Courts have no role in this process. The President\u2019s men hope to find a favorable hearing in the Supreme Court, the ultimate \u201cbackstop\u201d of Trumpism.  But even there, it is unlikely that the \u201ctextualists,\u201d the five man conservative majority, would overturn two hundred thirty-two years of precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obstruction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just as the defense cannot \u201cdefend\u201d until charges have been brought to the court, the President has no right to present evidence to the House.  The sole role of the House is to determine \u201ccause:\u201d whether impeachable offenses have been committed.  The House itself determines what those offenses are.  It will be in the Senate that the President and his lawyers can make a defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if a President refuses to recognize the legitimate impeachment and removal authority of the Congress, that action itself can be impeachable.  Obstructing the Constitutional power of the Congress clearly would be \u201c\u2026incompatible with (either) the Constitutional form and principles of our government\u2026<\/em>\u201d In the judicial system it would be called obstruction of justice.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, it is obstruction of Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impeachment The House of Representatives began proceedings to determine whether to impeach the President of the United States.  This is an awesome responsibility, the ultimate \u201ccheck\u201d in checks and balances.  There are seemingly endless academic debates about which branch of government is the most powerful, but in that argument, impeachment and removal is always the \u201ctrump\u201d card … Continue reading “Process and Procedure”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nProcess and Procedure : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The President claims his "rights" are denied in the House impeachment process. 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