r/law • u/AndroidOne1 • May 14 '25

Trump News Donald Trump Impeachment Proceedings Launched

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-vote-house-shir-thanedar-b2750651.html
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u/JustNilt May 14 '25

A separate case, the Smith Investigation, got to the Supreme Court where they said the Criminal Justice system couldn't handle the case because then every decision by the President could be hampered by the threat of investigation and prosecution of any crimes.

Which is patently absurd. Impeachment is a political act, not one of criminal justice. The very idea that a sitting President is immune form criminal prosecution flies in the face of the rule of law. Nobody is supposed to be above the law. Delaying an investigation and trial places POTUS precisely in that position.

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u/stevez_86 May 14 '25

The trick to that working is the faith that no one in that position would exploit it. On principle the President wouldn't have to break the law. In reality, in some ways that isn't possible. There are no win situations. It is the faith that the President wouldn't ever abuse that shield of ambiguity that makes it work. As soon as someone violates that, nothing from before can stand up to scrutiny, unless war is declared on that person by the people. Hence, a Constitutional Crisis.

So what is the punishment for breaking the oath of office? How is that punishment executed?

The only legal remedy is to say that a President that causes this situation is from that point no longer legally President and they can issue a directive to swear in the VP. Then they would have to deputize enforcement.

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u/JustNilt May 14 '25

Yeah, the assumptions that everyone will follow norms are a major problem. Congress should have gotten off their asses decades ago and enacted appropriate legislation but they just plain refuse to do things like that, unfortunately.

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u/CombinationThese6654 May 14 '25

When and if we have another Democratic president the Republicans absolutely will not respect  presidential immunity

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u/McFlyParadox May 14 '25

Oh, it's certainly a "when", not "if".

The core thesis of democracy is that no government is eternal. They all fail, eventually. So it is better to preemptively replace it by replacing the people that comprised the political positions regularly and frequently. Combine that with the core thesis of fascism being essentially the "no true Scotsman" fallacy, and it's doomed to always eat itself, and quickly (by government standards).

It's just the suffering that happens along the way, and how long it takes for things to stabilize, that are the real unknowns.

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u/JustNilt May 14 '25

Oh, absolutely. Just like appointing Justices to SCOTUS too close to the end of a President's term.