- 20 Jan 2020 14:24
#15060435
"The president’s lawyers have made the sweeping assertion that the articles of impeachment against President Trump must be dismissed because they fail to allege that he committed a crime — and are, therefore, as they said in a filing with the Senate, “constitutionally invalid on their face.”
"The argument that only criminal offenses are impeachable has died a thousand deaths in the writings of all the experts on the subject, but it staggers on like a vengeful zombie. In fact, there is no evidence that the phrase “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” was understood in the 1780s to mean indictable crimes.
On the contrary, with virtually no federal criminal law in place when the Constitution was written in 1787, any such understanding would have been inconceivable...The president is entitled to robust legal representation. But his lawyers should not be allowed to use bogus legal arguments to mislead the American public or the senators weighing his fate."
Alice in Wonderland is a searing satire about life in a decaying empire.
When things get crazy, it's often used as a sort of yardstick to measure against. This is one of those times.
When the Mad Queen says "off with their heads", she gets ignored. Same way Kelly and Mattis often did.
Back to impeachment, In the Clinton impeachment Dershowitz took a very strong position against presidential power. Starr took an even more extreme position. I'd say he wandered off the legal reservation into hack territory.
Both are now taking even more extreme positions in favor of essentially unlimited presidential power. Which is why the country's foremost expert on the Constitution thinks Chief Justice Roberts should rule those arguments as impermissible.
If you are wondering how and why Trump got into this incredibly awkward position, there are at least a couple reasons. The first is Trump's need for loyalty at all costs. But the second is because he has a reputation for not paying his bills. The real high powered lawyers expect to be paid.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/19/trumps-lawyers-shouldnt-be-allowed-use-bogus-legal-arguments-impeachment/
"The argument that only criminal offenses are impeachable has died a thousand deaths in the writings of all the experts on the subject, but it staggers on like a vengeful zombie. In fact, there is no evidence that the phrase “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” was understood in the 1780s to mean indictable crimes.
On the contrary, with virtually no federal criminal law in place when the Constitution was written in 1787, any such understanding would have been inconceivable...The president is entitled to robust legal representation. But his lawyers should not be allowed to use bogus legal arguments to mislead the American public or the senators weighing his fate."
Alice in Wonderland is a searing satire about life in a decaying empire.
When things get crazy, it's often used as a sort of yardstick to measure against. This is one of those times.
When the Mad Queen says "off with their heads", she gets ignored. Same way Kelly and Mattis often did.
Back to impeachment, In the Clinton impeachment Dershowitz took a very strong position against presidential power. Starr took an even more extreme position. I'd say he wandered off the legal reservation into hack territory.
Both are now taking even more extreme positions in favor of essentially unlimited presidential power. Which is why the country's foremost expert on the Constitution thinks Chief Justice Roberts should rule those arguments as impermissible.
If you are wondering how and why Trump got into this incredibly awkward position, there are at least a couple reasons. The first is Trump's need for loyalty at all costs. But the second is because he has a reputation for not paying his bills. The real high powered lawyers expect to be paid.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/19/trumps-lawyers-shouldnt-be-allowed-use-bogus-legal-arguments-impeachment/
Facts have a well known liberal bias