As president of the #SocietyofConstitutionalRaconteurs, I present you with a puzzler:
Here is a passage from the Constitution:
Here is a passage from the Constitution:
Several debates will be made necessary by the partisan impeachment of @realdonaldtrump. None of these will be completely novel or new. Most of them will be rooted in the language and meaning of the Constitution.
Among the first of those debates will be one over the question, is an impeachment a criminal proceeding?
Now, you have before you an excerpt from the Judicial Article of the Constitution, Article III.
What does that passage tell you about the topic, is impeachment a criminal proceeding?
What does that passage tell you about the topic, is impeachment a criminal proceeding?
Give the text a careful and measured reading:
"The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury[.]"
"The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury[.]"
I think, and am curious as to why my reading is wrong if you think that it is, that this phrasing demonstrates that the Constitution classifies impeachments as a criminal proceeding.
@threadreaderapp unroll
