Sunday, February 9, 2020

Did House Democrats Abuse the Power of Congress in Impeaching Trump?


            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns abuse of power. The Democrats in the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump for abusing the power of the President. However, a constitutional law expert believes that the House abused their power by doing so.


            Mark Levin recently interviewed Randy Barnett on Fox News’ “Life, Liberty & Levin,” and Barnett explained that the House “misbehaved” when they pursued impeachment of Trump. In fact, the House is guilty of the exact charge they made against Trump: abuse of power.


The legislature can abuse power. That is one of the reasons we have judicial review – to ensure that the legislature has not exceeded its proper powers – as it did, for example, when it passed the Affordable Care Act pursuant to its Commerce Clause power.


            Barnett claimed that the Senate’s acquittal of Trump was a “check” on the House’s power to impeach. The House “clearly misbehaved” and “abused their impeachment power” according to Barnett. One reason why they abused their power is that they forced through the impeachment while denying the President the right to defend himself. Then they claimed that Trump was abusing his power because he sought to defend himself.

           If [Democrats] were so confident in the merit of their case, they should not have been 
           afraid of due process…. The fact that they ran from the adversary system in the House    
           indicates that they felt they would only survive, they would only get the finish line… by 
          denying the White House, denying the president of the United States his opportunity to 
          [defend himself].

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