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Questions for those who argue that charging the president with obstruction of justice for an executive act like firing the FBI director or shutting down an investigation into his own misconduct would impermissibly infringe on his "constitutional authority." 1/
The Speech or Debate clause in Article I provides that for purely legislative acts a Member of Congress "shall not be questioned in any other place." That's an explicit grant of immunity, and demonstrates the framers knew to grant such immunity. 2/
It would have been a simple matter for the framers to include similar immunity for the President in Art. II - "For any exercise of Executive authority under this Constitution, the President shall not be questioned in any other place." Why didn't they? 3/
And given their general mistrust of Executive authority (having recently freed themselves from a monarch), what suggests the framers would have wanted a president to have such immunity? 4/
If you're going to rely on the vesting clause, that seems like a very thin reed. It's a general grant of authority, as opposed to a specific grant of immunity like the Speech or Debate clause. And then it just raises the question of what does "executive power" include. 5/
Why would we think the grant of "executive power" in the vesting clause includes the power to act corruptly to thwart investigations into the president's own potential misconduct? That doesn't make much sense, especially when read in conjunction with the take care clause. 6/
Everyone agrees that if the president took a bribe in exchange for firing the FBI Director, that bribe could be prosecuted (at least once he left office). So the argument boils down to saying you can criminalize the president's promise to exercise constitutional authority ... 7/
But not the actual corrupt exercise of that authority. I don't see how that makes any sense, or what in the language of the Constitution supports it. 8/end
Typo: end of #2 should read: "...framers knew HOW to grant such immunity."
Still waiting for that "edit" function, Twitter.
Still waiting for that "edit" function, Twitter.
