Jan 25, 2021 Real Politics by Clayton Keirns
In a brand new column posted on the Daily Caller, law expert and former House Rep. Bob Barr discussed Chuck Schumer’s big mistake concerting the upcoming impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump.
Barr contends that Trump will be easily acquitted in the Senate trial simply due to some very specific wording in the constitution that almost disqualifies Trump from even being tried in the first place.
“If there was perhaps one mistake our Founders made in drafting the Constitution, it was presuming that future members of the Legislative Branch would be sufficiently competent to actually read the document to which they all had sworn an oath,” Barr begins.
“It is, however, increasingly clear that many – perhaps most — sitting United States senators cannot read the plain text of the Constitution. The relevant wording in the Constitution is at the very end of Article II, establishing that a constitutionally errant “President,…shall be removed from Office” if he first has been impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate for ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors,'” he adds.
Barr then continues to hammer home the importance that the trial is only applicable to current sitting Presidents…not ex-Presidents.
“Unlike other sections of the Constitution where clarity may be obscured by arcane wording, this particular provision is clear and concise, and it applies to “the President.” The language pointedly does not provide in any way, shape, or form that a ‘Former President’ or an ‘Ex-President’ may be similarly punished, only the President,”
“The basis on which Schumer and his Democrat colleagues are proceeding against Trump can best be understood by their all-consuming hatred for the former president, a sentiment they share with their House colleagues,” he continues.
“Their zeal to punish Mr. Trump appears to have blinded them even to common sense and to the plain meaning of words – factors that otherwise and in less toxic times would lead them to realize that no matter how powerful and exalted they might view themselves as ‘senators,’ a person cannot be ‘removed’ by them from an office that he or she does not in fact occupy,” he added.
“It is black-letter law that a court cannot punish someone for a crime if it does not have jurisdiction over that person. Just as courts of law have no power over individuals outside their defined jurisdiction, the United States Senate has no power over a former President of the United States,” continued Barr.
“No matter the degree to which Sen. Schumer despises Mr. Trump and hopes to prevent him from being able to run again for office at some future date (as unlikely as that may be), the body of which Schumer is a long-serving member does not have power under the Constitution to thus punish the ex-president,” Barr concludes.
Despite all of the legal advantages that Trump has in this trial, it is apparent that Democrats are going to do everything they can to push it through anyways.
Sadly (for them), a growing number of GOP Senators oppose a move to “convict” Trump in a Senate trial, meaning their efforts will be all for naught.
All this will do is waste weeks of previous legislative time and further blockade Coronavirus aid to the American people.
Sadly, the Democrats care more about revenge than they do helping our country.
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