By Trevor Phillips

Introduction:

Impeachment is one of the most polarizing issues in America, with many people firmly entrenched in their opinions. I wrote this article not as an expert on the subject of impeachment nor the inner machinations of the American political system, but as someone who has educated themselves on the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. I have spent time reading the reports on the House Intelligence Committee Impeachment Inquiry and I have also watched to completion almost all of the public hearings. I will not pretend to be an impartial observer of the impeachment, I came into the impeachment disapproving of Trump and I still think that he should be impeached. My problem with the impeachment is not with its premise or how it will conclude but with how it is being conducted. In this article, I will detail what I believe both parties are doing wrong in this impeachment.

The Republicans:

Let’s start off easy with the Grand Old Party. As I mentioned earlier, I am not a supporter of Trump and I would identify as a moderate Democrat, so when starting this article, it was easier for me to write against the GOP. The Republican party has been vocal against impeachment from the beginning, which is rational given that President Trump is their candidate. What I find harder to understand: (i) the insistence that Ukraine interfered with the election, which to my knowledge was not uncovered in Robert Mueller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 election, and (ii) that the denial of a quid pro quo by President Trump, after the Ukraine Scandal had come to light, was an accurate description of the call.

On a personal level, I felt it was disrespectful when they implied during the House Judiciary Committee hearing that the constitutional scholars, who had been called in to provide their opinion of the Ukraine scandal, had not taken the time to read the transcripts and prepare for the hearing, and that the experts were sequestered in their ivory towers and therefore could not provide accurate testimony regarding the happenings of the Congress, also known as the “swamp”. I also found that during the inquiries, especially during the opening statements, the Republicans spewed an inordinate amount of vitriol about the Democrats and the impeachment trial.

While Republicans have done many things over the course of the impeachment that I disagree with, the elephant in the room is clearly the Senate trial. Republicans have stated that they will coordinate with the White House during the Senate trial. Notable Republican senators have also said that they will not be impartial jurors in the Senate trial, which is an appalling thought because it undermines the fairness and authenticity of the trial. While the Republicans may not agree with how the inquiry was conducted in the House, now is their chance to provide a fair trial and, by extension, win the moral high ground. However, it seems that they would rather brush impeachment under the rug as quickly as possible.

The Democrats:

Time to talk about the Democrats. As I have said before, I do support the Democratic Party. However, when it comes to impeachment, I have been critical of how the Democrats have conducted the impeachment thus far. If you read this article simply to read another article denouncing President Trump and glorifying the Democrats then this section of the article is not for you. That being said, I would like to encourage those reading to be open-minded and to give this section of the article a chance. Now let’s get back to the Democrats.

One of my biggest issues with the House impeachment inquiry was that it seemed very rushed, a sentiment which was pointed out by Ranking Member Doug Collins during the House Judiciary Committee hearings. While it has not been explicitly confirmed, it is my understanding that the reason the impeachment inquiry was so quick was to not lose the interest of the American people. I’m very disappointed that the investigation was so short because by cutting it off so quickly, they did not allow for any challenges against executive privilege or requests for documents to be decided by the Supreme Court. This also makes it seem so ironic that the Democrats are adamant on witnesses in the Senate trial while they didn’t wait for the House’s attempts to get witnesses to be concluded before ending their investigation. While I understand the political reasons for having the rush, those reasons being that they wanted to maintain the attention of the American people, and undermining the republican parties credibility as they have to defend the decisions they are making to protect Trump. I think that if there is to be a fair and just impeachment then both parties should put aside their political motivations in favor of justice and upholding the constitution.

The actions of the Democrats in the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump has been a source for spirited debate among my family, though it has been primarily me against them. We all agree with the result of the House Impeachment Inquiry, but we disagree on the ethical value of actions taken by the Democrats. The particular action that we disagree on the most is the decision by House Democrats to not send the Articles of impeachment to the Senate until the Senate decides on how they will conduct the trial.

Out of all the actions that I have seen thus far when it comes to impeachment, the one that I feel most strongly about is the decision to withhold the Articles of impeachment by the Democrats. I vehemently oppose the decision because I feel that it violates Trump’s constitutional right to a fair trial, that the House Democrats are overstepping their jurisdiction and obstructing Congress, and that the Democrats are serving their own political interests over the interests of the country.

The Sixth Amendment of the constitution states that “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense”. While the impeachment is not a criminal prosecution, it is my personal opinion that the Ninth Amendment that says “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”, would grant Trump the same, or similar, rights to those that he would be entitled to in a criminal prosecution.

I am not a constitutional expert and I can’t speak for the “framers”, the name for those who produced the Constitution, but I believe given the importance and power of the office of the President, they would want the President to be granted the same rights as those granted in a criminal trial in an impeachment trial, which may arguably be even more important. In delaying the Senate impeachment trial by withholding the articles of impeachment, House Democrats are taking away his right to a fair trial. While I may not agree with the President’s views and policies, I believe that it is essential that everyone has the right to a fair trial, especially when it is as important as an impeachment trial. As political division wreaks havoc across America, it is more important than ever that we must be faithful to the principles of freedom, democracy, and justice or else we cross a point of no return. To paraphrase Lin-Manuel Miranda’s play Hamilton, “If you stand for nothing, what do you fall for?”

One of the things I have always been confused about is the difference in the functions between the House of Representatives and the Senate. While I still don’t entirely understand all the roles between the two, my research for this article has been very enlightening on the subject. One of the most relevant duties of the Senate is the responsibility of trying impeached officials. The constitution explicitly states that the Senate has the sole power to conduct impeachment trials and now, on one of the most divisive political issues of the century, the House of Representatives is interfering with that duty. By preventing the Senate from starting the impeachment trial of President Trump, the House of Representatives is stopping the Senate from conducting one of its most important responsibilities.

The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is overstepping its jurisdiction in an attempt to alter how the Senate impeachment trial will be conducted. In the articles of impeachment against the President by the House Judiciary Committee, it says that Trump has “assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the ‘sole Power of Impeachment.’ vested by the Constitution to the House of Representatives” and cites that as a reason to impeach him on Obstruction of Congress. Looking at how the House is interfering with the Senate’s “sole Power to Conduct Impeachment Trials” vested by the Constitution to the Senate, the irony is not lost. If the House of Representatives is willing to impeach the President for obstructing the House of Representatives’ “sole Power of Impeachment,” then they should be willing to impeach Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for obstructing the Senate’s “sole Power to Conduct Impeachment Trials.”

It’s an open secret that both parties have ulterior motives for the impeachment trial. The Republicans want to finish it as quickly as possible to get it out of the news cycle. The Democrats want to increase their chances of winning the 2020 election by making the President and the Republicans look as bad as possible. While it is understandable, though perhaps ethically questionable, to have ulterior motives for the impeachment. The problem occurs when those motivations override the duty of those Congresspeople to preserve and protect the democratic ideals that America was founded on. By withholding the articles of impeachment until the Senate acquiesces to her demands, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi puts her personal and political objectives over the good of the country.

While she may not admit it openly, it seems obvious that one of the goals of keeping the articles of impeachment is to prolong media coverage of the impeachment, coverage that will not look kindly on the Republican party. I personally agree that there should be witnesses for the trial; however, I think that there are better ways to accomplish that goal than preventing the trial. For example, given that the votes on how the trial will be conducted require 51 votes to pass, if the Democrats were to gain the support of three Republican senators, two independent senators and then vote unanimously, they would be able to influence how the trial will be conducted. While it may seem like a lot to ask, two Republican senators have already questioned the comments made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on how he plans to conduct the trial. Instead of exploiting loopholes in the rules, Democrats should rise above the partisan selfishness that has consumed American politics, and negotiate with the Republicans in a fair and balanced way.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump is a chaotic and messy affair, filled with political subterfuge and partisan bias. It is the antithesis of what the “framers” would have wanted. The Republicans are promising to act as a biased jury and undermining the authenticity of the trial. Meanwhile, the Democrats are using impeachment as a political stunt to undercut Trump’s popularity. Impeachment is one of the gravest and most important responsibilities that can be undertaken by Congress and it should be conducted with more fairness and civility than a campaign rally.

If members of Congress truly cared about what is best for America, they would set aside partisan beliefs and their predetermined positions, and they would make an unbiased decision based on the facts of the trial. America is a global superpower and a bastion of democracy, and its politicians should act accordingly. Someone has to draw a line in the sand, and I’m not saying I should be the one to do it, but if it’s not drawn soon we’re all going to be swept away by the tide.

References:

“The Bill of Rights: A Transcription.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript#toc-the-u-s-bill-of-rights.

“Impeachment Inquiry Hearing with Fiona Hill and David Holmes.” c-span.org, C-SPAN, 21 Nov. 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?466380-1/impeachment-inquiry-hearing-fiona-hill-david-holmes. 

“Impeachment Inquiry Hearing with E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland.” c-span.org, C-SPAN, 20 Nov. 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?466378-1/impeachment-inquiry-hearing-eu-ambassador-gordon-sondland. 

“Diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent Impeachment Inquiry Testimony.” c-span.org, C-SPAN, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?466134-1/diplomats-bill-taylor-george-kent-impeachment-inquiry-testimony. 

“Hearing on Evidence in Impeachment Inquiry.” c-span.org, C-SPAN, 9 Dec. 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?467123-1/hearing-evidence-impeachment-inquiry. 

“Hearing on Constitutional Framework for Impeachment.” c-Span.org, C-SPAN, 4 Dec. 2019, 

https://www.c-span.org/video/?466833-1/hearing-constitutional-framework-impeachment.

 United States, Congress, “Report of Evidence in the Democrats Impeachment Inquiry in the House of Representatives: Republican Staff Report Prepared for Devin Nunes, Ranking Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Jim Jordan, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Reform, Michael T. McCaul, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs.” Report of Evidence in the Democrats Impeachment Inquiry in the House of Representatives: Republican Staff Report Prepared for Devin Nunes, Ranking Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Jim Jordan, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Reform, Michael T. McCaul, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs.

 United States, Congress, “The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report: Report of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Pursuant to H. Res. 660 in Consultation with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.” The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report: Report of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Pursuant to H. Res. 660 in Consultation with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

 Nadler, and Jerrold. “Text – H.Res.755 – 116th Congress (2019-2020): Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Congress.gov, House Judiciary Committee, 18 Dec. 2019, https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/755/text.