Jonathan Turley: Sorry to break it to you but Trump has been officially impeached

[mystery-ak]

Jonathan Turley: Sorry to break it to you but Trump has been officially impeached

Allahpundit Posted at 7:21 pm on December 20, 2019

It’s a sign of how screwy the Democrats’ “impeach and withhold” ploy is that a law prof who testified for their side during the hearings thinks Trump hasn’t been impeached yet while the law prof who testified for Trump thinks he has.

How dare you, both of you. Legal analysis is supposed to be motivated exclusively by partisan aims.

I side with Turley on this, as his argument is intuitive. The two houses of Congress normally act by passing bills. In a case of impeachment, the power of which is granted exclusively to the House, logically we should conclude that the House has acted once the articles of impeachment have passed. And pretty much everyone in the United States did conclude that on Wednesday night. As Turley notes, the parts of the Constitution governing impeachment (as opposed to removal) say nothing about referral to the Senate.

   

Section 3 gives the “sole power to try all impeachments” to the Senate. For such a trial to occur, the Senate is officially informed of the articles of impeachment by the House. One can argue that without such a referral, the Senate would not take up the impeachment. Indeed, as I stated in my testimony, English precedent includes the power of the House of Lords not to take up impeachments. The majority of impeachments were not taken up by the House of Lords because they were viewed as raw political exercises. That is not our tradition…

    Where Noah [Feldman] and I agree is that this use of the articles as a bargaining chip is a departure from tradition and undermines the integrity of the process. It also contradicts the Democratic narrative that the House could not wait because this is a “crime in progress.” I argued that a little more time could greatly enhance this record. Now, having adopted articles of impeachment on a facially incomplete and insufficient record, the House suddenly has ample time to toy with the Senate on the transferral of the articles for trial.

more
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2019/12/20/jonathan-turley-sorry-break-trump-officially-impeached/

Trump Stands Impeached: A Response To Noah Feldman
https://jonathanturley.org/2019/12/20/trump-was-impeached-a-response-to-noah-feldman/

[dfwgator]

So what?  The Rats have turned Impeachment into a Badge of Honor.

[Free Vulcan]

Than why haven't they presented them to the Senate? Why are they playing political hackey sack with the Constitution for political gain?

Unfortunately for the Rats, that position means McConnell can take up the articles anytime he wants. Let them twist in the wind a bit, then look like the adult in the room.

Use the '98 trial rules, not the stacked Dem rules, and the Prez is acquitted.

[MajorClay]

Without due process?

[Wingnut]

Big f'n  deal.  The House Rtas  could mpeach a ham samitch for all it is worth.  Trump should own it and wear it as a badge of honor over the dishonest House of Reps Rats. 

[corbe]

 

   I've stayed out of this Impeachment pizzing contest because as my idol @roamer_1 always sez: I got no dog in this hunt.

[240B]

This 'impeached/not impeached' argument is just semantics. It depends on what the definition of 'impeached' is. If we say that President Trump has been impeached as of the House vote, Ok, then so what? It makes no difference in any way, except maybe in terms of Democrat propaganda. But it does nothing to hinder or impede the President in any way at all. It is the same as nothing, except a word.

I know there are Liberals celebrating the idea, from there own words, 'We have put a stain on his name forever!', as if that is an accomplishment of some kind. By saying that, they are admitting that the entire impeachment ordeal was nothing more that an act of petulance and revenge. If to stain President Trump's name in history was the goal, then how does that achieve any practical immediate result?

The House repeatedly said that President Trump was an immediate threat to national security and world peace! What does tarnishing his name in history 20 or 50 years from now do to address the threat he poses today? The answer is it does nothing. Nothing at all. Gleefully calling him "impeached!", with no change in the form or function of his Presidency is vapor. It is a word with no meaning.

If we want to dive into deep technicalities, yes he was voted eligible for impeachment by the House. But without Senate involvement followed by any real-world consequences, it is the same as calling him a "doo-doo head" and nothing any more serious than that.

[truth_seeker]

If the Impeachment is Shit, you must Aquit !!

[roamer_1]

   I've stayed out of this Impeachment pizzing contest because as my idol @roamer_1 always sez: I got no dog in this hunt.

 

Good on ya @corbe ! Except in that you misspelled 'idle', which I am accomplishing with all due haste this fine sunny day...

Hash browns this morning, made with onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno fine diced and built right in... And a nice fresh homemade pico over that, and the eggs right on top. Is that Texas or what?

Aw man, that put me right, and I ain't stirred a stump since. And I ain't fixin to, other than the coffee's running out.

[corbe]

   Sounds Texan, @roamer_1 I just added two extra squirts of Worcestershire sauce to my usual breakfast~Bloody Mary's.  I've switched to beer pretty early today because of my hearty breakfast.
   Broke down all my old kitchen cabinents making them ready for the burn pit, the good wood (doors), I screwed into my old back yard fence to help shore it up.   It's all good.   

[roamer_1]

   Sounds Texan, @roamer_1 I just added two extra squirts of Worcestershire sauce to my usual breakfast~Bloody Mary's.  I've switched to beer pretty early today because of my hearty breakfast.
   Broke down all my old kitchen cabinents making them ready for the burn pit, the good wood (doors), I screwed into my old back yard fence to help shore it up.   It's all good.   

New cabinets going in then @corbe ??

[corbe]

   I put them in Friday a week ago,  @roamer_1 the old ones will be ashes by 2 or 3 am.

[roamer_1]

... the old ones will be ashes by 2 or 3 am.

Fixin to throw a bonfire then @corbe ? As good an excuse as any... It's a thing up in here... light that off after dark, and you'd best be ready for folks showing up, because they will... That's a good time. 

[corbe]

Fixin to throw a bonfire then @corbe ? As good an excuse as any... It's a thing up in here... light that off after dark, and you'd best be ready for folks showing up, because they will... That's a good time. 

   Funny you say that @roamer_1 because I came back inside and my main squeeze was gone, and she took all but the few tokens she always leaves behind, like a dog pizzin on a fire hydrant, I hadn't a clue she was so aggravated, go figure.
   But, Yes, now that her car is not parked out front, my Friends will start showing up, they hate the bit$h.

[roamer_1]

   Funny you say that @roamer_1 because I came back inside and my main squeeze was gone, and she took all but the few tokens she always leaves behind, like a dog pizzin on a fire hydrant, I hadn't a clue she was so aggravated, go figure.
   But, Yes, now that her car is not parked out front, my Friends will start showing up, they hate the bit$h.

Funny @corbe ... But that all sounds so familiar... Some kinda deja vu goin on there for me...

[austingirl]

If the Impeachment is Shit, you must Aquit !!

 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The Speaker of the House is not just the name we give to the person chosen by other members to lead the House -- it is a Constitutionally-specified position.    Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 consists of a single sentence that references both the Speaker and the Power of Impeachment:

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

The House has voted impeachment, has recorded that in its journal, and has certified and published officially that vote.  The Speaker of the House herself has stated publicly and unequivocally that Trump has been impeached:

“He just got impeached. He’ll be impeached for ever. No matter what the Senate does. He’s impeached for ever because he violated our constitution,” she said.
“If I did nothing else, he saw the power of the gavel there,” Pelosi told the AP. “And it wasn’t me, it was all of our members making their own decision.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/20/nancy-pelosi-on-trump-and-the-power-of-the-gavel-hell-be-impeached-for-ever

If there is a single person in the entire world empowered to say what determines whether or not the President has been impeached, it is the Speaker.

He's impeached.

[240B]

Trump may be listed as 'impeached' for now. But once he is exonerated in the Senate and a Republican House comes to power, his status as 'impeached' can be abrogated and expunged. Considering the extraordinary biased way in which his prosecution was carried out, combined with the fact that there is no crime, makes this particular impeachment unconstitutional. If his impeachment was done illegally (which it certainly was), then it has no weight and can be nullified.