Is the Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump constitutional? According to Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University and a contributor to Fox News, the issue is a “closed issue”.
Turley joined Sandra Smith and John Roberts in “America Reports” on Tuesday to offer his views on the 45th president’s second impeachment.
JONATHAN TURLEY: IMPEACHING TRUMP – HOME THREATS TO SAND THIS CENTRAL PRINCIPLE TO GUARANTEE CONVICTION
JONATHAN TURLEY: We all agree that this is a difficult issue. Most people have a pattern in one way or another. I tend to standardize more with the text. And I think the best argument is probably the narrowest argument, that you really don’t have room for retroactive judgments under the text.
I think, in the end, you have a very interesting and unsolved problem. I have evolved in my view of the text, and I actually still agree … there is value in retroactive testing, [it’s] you just have to balance them with those costs and the text.
Firstly, I found these managers to perform very well. I thought [Rep. Joe] Neguse [D-Colo.] it was very, very good.
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They started with this highly emotional narrative with this video, which was notably highlighted from the issue facing the Senate. Everyone agrees that what happened on January 6 was horrible, it was despicable. It was both a desecration and an insurrection. But that does not go into the question of whether we should open that door for retroactive testing.
[On previous impeachment trials of officials who had already left office] There are only two cases and the results do not support this. Inside [the case of Sen. William] Blount, they rejected the case for jurisdictional reasons [in 1799]. Is on [the case of former Secretary of War William] Belknap[em1876=almosthalfofthetimeitwasissuedtobelievethatitwasunconstitutionalandthentheyweresolved[in1876=almosthalfoftheSenatedismissedbecausetheybelievedthatitwasunconstitutionalandthentheywentontoacquithim[em1876=quasemetadedoSenadodemitidoporacreditarqueerainconstitucionaleentãoelesoabsolveram[in1876=almosthalfoftheSenatedismissedbecausetheybelievedthatitwasunconstitutionalandthentheywentontoacquithim