For the opening day of House impeachment proceedings before the Judiciary Committee, four legal scholars have been called in to testify concerning the the history, intent, and importance of impeachment. Those witnesses are:
Noah Feldman, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School and constitutional expert for PBS.
Michael Gerhardt, the Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at UNC.
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington Law School and a familiar face on television.
As with the public hearings before the House Intelligence Committee, there will be opening statements, one or more rounds of questioning by staff, and then five minutes offered to each member of the committee.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 4:34:09 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Serving as the Judiciary Committee counsel is Norman Eisen. He previously served as White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform. Interestingly, Eisen also served as Ambassador to the Czech Republic—which could give him particular insights into a case where many of the witnesses are also ambassadors.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 4:42:52 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Eisen working through the witnesses—notably leaving Turley on the sidelines except for forcing him to own one of his past statements—as he works to demonstrate that the Constitution leaves open the definition of what constitutes an impeachable offense.
Karlan’s discussion of the concerns about foreign influence are a particular highlight of this questioning.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 5:06:40 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Eisen also making it clear that, far from attempting to ignore the Russia investigation, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee plan to make the findings of the special counsel report integral to the final counts laid against Trump.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 5:21:28 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
During the first short break, Doug Collins met with reporters in the hallway and was asked about his response to legal experts repeatedly saying that Trump’s actions were exactly those contemplated when impeachment was added to the Constitution. Collins’s response …. “Jonathan Turley.” That’s it, not any refutation of the statements made, just an admission that the whole Republican case is going to be 45 minutes of Turley unleashed.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 6:02:24 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Republicans break out the multi-color bar graph on the political makeup of voting districts as Turley follows up with yet another broken history lesson.
Clearly the GOP scheme is to put America to sleep until the hearings are over.
Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019 · 6:08:59 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
During the Republican testimony we have learned:
The mental state of Jonathan Turley's dog.
The religious preferences of French monarchs.
The preferred dictionary in 1792.
But nothing that disputes the basic facts of this case.