The Constitutionality of impeaching a former president has been called into question now that the time of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial has arrived and Trump is out of office. In fact, Trump’s main defense for his upcoming trial is that now that his term has expired, he can no longer be impeached. There have been a variety of arguments by constitutional scholars, with one of them being that “the Constitution envisions impeachment only as a tool for proceeding against a president while he remains in office,” essentially saying the purpose for impeachment is not punishment, but removal. However, the majority of constitutional scholars believe that the impeachment of Trump is constitutional, with more than one hundred fifty of them signing a statement saying “the Constitution’s text and structure, history, and precedent make clear that Congress’s impeachment power permits it to impeach, try, and convict former officers, including former Presidents.” In addition to his, the House impeachment managers’ brief stated that presidents do not get a free pass to carry out high crimes near the end of their term. The best rebuttal to the unconstitutionality of Trump’s impeachment was that the Framers understood that the impeachment of former officials in England and the early American states was accepted widely.
Politico released an article stating that Trump’s second impeachment trial will be different than the first for the reason that the Democrats are not pushing for witnesses during this trial, unlike last time. Apparently, they find that their “experience as witnesses to the Jan. 6 insurrection” is all the evidence they need. The trial isn’t expected to last over a week, but that depends on whether witnesses are brought in or not. Senate Minority Whip John Thune said that “Both sides would kind of like to wrap it up fairly quickly.” This past Thursday House Democrats called on Trump to testify but the move was rejected by Trump’s legal team.
What do you think? Is it constitutional to impeach a former president? Are witnesses needed in the upcoming trial, or would it just delay the process further?
Links:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-risks-of-trumps-impeachment-trial
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/07/democrats-trump-second-impeachment-466152
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/07/politics/trump-impeachment-trial-this-week-state-of-play/index.html
I think that it is constitutional to impeach any former president. This is because his actions that are going to be argued concurred during his presidency. Whether he is in office now or not doesn't change that matter. Another important part of the matter is that impeaching Trump would prevent him also from running again. This is why even though many believe that this trial is pointless, it really can change our future. I'm hoping that this trial is short, because we as a country need to be able to move on. Despite this, moving on and not holding someone that is possibly accountable are two different things. -Brooke
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