CNSTITUTIONAL CONVERSATIONS
Bait and Switch
by
M.E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
Miss Constitution has written several columns lately regarding lawful impeachment of a President based on processes in the United States Constitution, Supreme Court rulings, and commentary about the process by contemporaries in 1787.
She has emphasized the word process because that is what the Constitution is about. Crime, on the other hand, is about action or behavior. Impeachment of a President is about behavior while in office that rises to a high level of injury to the nation. It is not about the President’s thoughts, or motives, it is only about his or her behavior — an action already taken not an action anticipated to be taken. Our Constitution and our Bill of Rights allows each of us liberty of thought and motive, sometimes speech and protest if conducted within certain Constitutional rules. One of the most important and revolutionary aspects of our system is that we do not punish thought and motive. Back in the day of dear old England thinking bad thoughts about the King was punishable by death.
Ok. Miss Constitution is going to go way, way out on a limb and conjecture on Democratic impeachment motive. This is not what Miss Constitution likes to do but feels she must share her conclusions with her readers for discussion and thought. THE FOLLOWING IS NOT NECESSARILY TRUE – it is Miss Constitution’s guess. Please do not stop reading; Miss Constitution promises to get back to normal soon.
Keep in mind Niccolò Machiavelli, a 16th century political philosopher, and an expert in cunning and duplicity. Here is what Miss Constitution thinks the Democratic managers of the House impeachment panel are doing in coordination with the minority leader in the Senate.
- The managers know that the President’s behavior regarding the telephone call to a foreign leader is not criminal and does not rise to an impeachable offense
- The managers know full well that the process for impeachment was violated in the very beginning by actions of the Speaker of the House in conjunction with other House members
- The managers expect that the President will not only not be impeached but will be exonerated as is now being pressed for by Senator Cruz
- The managers are demanding witnesses and documents despite a violated process because they know talking about a “fair trial” moves the conversation away from a “fair process”
- The managers WANT to lose the case and are hoping that Republicans will be fooled by a hollow win
Why? Would this not be the Machiavellian move of the century? Well, yes it would. Here is what the Democrats would gain by losing.
- Unless the Senate dismisses the case based on a flawed process, a waiver of proper process produces a precedent, evidently agreed upon by the Senate, that commencing an Impeachment does not take a vote of the whole House and does not have to be bipartisan. This means that the House, if it remains in Democratic hands, can start Impeachment proceedings at any time for any reason and these proceedings can start at the whim of the Speaker of the House
- The standard for Impeachment, or behavior while in office, can be changed to thoughts and motives and not actions of a President, so any President can be Impeached upon the accusation that his or her motives were corrupt even though his or her behavior was lawful
- Our entire Constitutional system of liberty of thought, not of action, would be destroyed; in other words, the basis for our entire Constitutional system – tyranny can not be far behind
Miss Constitution, do you really give the Democrats that much credit for so dastardly a scheme?
Yes, Miss Constitution does. Miss Constitution came to these thoughts while listening carefully to every word of the House managers in their hours-long diatribe. The President’s motives, not the President’s actions or behavior, were the focus of their arguments. Their argument is — the President had corrupt motives and plans to cheat IN THE FUTURE (not a Constitutional standard). The President only said he cared about corruption but really cares about leveraging aid for political purposes, etc. etc. etc. Almost everything said was about what the President thinks and what his motives were for an otherwise legal and lawful phone call. Since the public knows very little about the Constitutional standards and the Senate is distracted with 2020 election concerns, they may very well be unaware that they are allowing the process to be changed forever by thinking they have “won” now.
What to do? Dismiss as a Constitutional violation of Process. Do not go to the merits no matter how many hours attorneys have prepared, or you will validate the change in Constitutional standards for commencing an Impeachment inquiry. By dismissing as a violation of Process the Constitutional standards will have been preserved and this charade cannot go on in a second term if the President is re-elected or be used against any President for that matter. Miss Constitution refers you to the Wall Street Journal editorial of January 23, 2020, regarding this new standard for Impeachment – The “Corrupt Purposes” Impeachment.
Miss Constitution is fully aware that she has thrown out conjecture to you where you should be able to count on her for facts. The problem is not if she is wrong in her speculation, it is if she is right and we are about to undo our Constitutional Republic for a few shiny objects tossed to the Senate. Someone needs to send this to the President’s legal counsel and Republican Senators for their consideration. Miss Constitution gives her permission. You might also wonder where she gets her Machiavellian mind.
Copyright©2020 M.E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
APPLES OF GOLD – Voices from the Past Speaking to Us Now by M.E. Boyd is available at www.amazon.com
