Tex117 said:
Zombie Jon Snow said:
Tex117 said:
Zombie Jon Snow said:
AggieDub14 said:
First president in history to be impeached twice. Nice record.
I'm assuming the senate can still hold a trial after he leaves office. And if he is convicted he will lose the benefits of being a former president and will be unable to hold office again.
Post 1776, nice!
First President to be impeached twice for no reason.
FIFY
And conviction is not happening. DOA. Wont be a trial before inauguration. And after inauguration it would be unconstitutional.
WASTE OF TIME
Please point to where you can say FOR SURE that there cannot be a trial in the Senate after he leaves office for disqualification.
It may not be "for sure" I suppose because there is no precedent here.
But the only cases of impeachment for any civil office AFTER they have left office were in cases where they had resigned - thus their term had not ended in effect. See linked article.
Once Trump is succeeded in the natural legal order of things he becomes a private citizen again. He was not removed from office before it expired and he did not resign. Impeachment does not apply to private citizens and its only intent is to remove from office which would have already happened naturally.
The Constitution specifically says
Quote:
The Constitution's Article II, Section 4 reads that "the President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Constitution assigns the consideration of charges to the House of Representatives, with the Senate conducting a trial if the House approves impeachment articles against a civil officer.
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/can-president-trump-be-impeached-after-he-leaves-office
Well, you are ignoring the actual powers of Congress in Article 1 that states:
Quote:
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
The disqualification language implies that the Senate could continue to try a person after they left office. Hell, its happened twice. Sen. William Blount in 1797 and Secretary of War William Belknap, 1876.
Just saying, it is far from certain.
No it did not happen twice.
Neither "left office".
Blount was specifically expelled from office and thus the determination of disqualification was another matter after being expelled.
Belknap resigned his office so he did not reach the conclusion of his term.
No one having left office due to the expiration of a term has ever been tried and expelled after the fact or excluded from future office.
And you are ignoring the AND in Article I which seems to imply removal from office is first then followed by possible disqualification. If there is no removal from office there is no precedent for simply disqualifying from service in the future.
Both issues would have to be determined by the SC..... even the issue of whether the CJ of the SC could/would preside over a trial in the Senate after an official has left office due to expiration of their term is not decided.
So again there is no precedent. I would be surprised if they were able to
a. determine the authority of the CJ to sit on a trial about a private citizen
b. determine if they can have a trial about a private citizen that is no longer in office due to expiration of term
c. only have a trial about disqualification without a conviction of a removal from office since that is moot
Those are three huge Constitutional questions - so my stance is that it is Unconstitutional until proven otherwise and I don't think that happens.