The impeachment process is political, not criminal.
It is important to remember that this is all a political process rather than a criminal one, which is why the Senate and White House can get away with so much that wouldn’t get past a court of law. This can get frustrating for citizens and all those on the outside that expect a clean, professional process with no signs of political bias and a clear conviction at the end.
Ideally, this whole process should be neutral, democratic, and free from any political influence. This isn’t the case for several reasons. We have to consider the following:
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the purpose of the impeachment trial isn’t to decide on a criminal conviction
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the process of the trial doesn’t follow traditional rules of a court of law
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the process of the trial doesn’t follow standardized rules at all
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the political power within the House and Senate can play a big role in outcomes.
The purpose of the impeachment trial is to gain a political outcome.
This distinction between a political and criminal trial is important when we consider the potential penalties. The Constitution states that the only penalties permitted are removing the accused from office and the disqualification from holding any federal office in the future. That is all. The impact of the result only has a bearing on the defendant’s political career. A defendant can’t face any risk of life, liberty, or property in this situation.
So far, we have seen what the constitution doesn’t say about the impeachment process. However, there are mentions of impeachment that have some bearing on cases today. Article II, Section 2, states that future presidents cannot pardon any past president found guilty in an impeachment trial.
Therefore, were Trump impeached and removed from office, he wouldn’t have then found himself in jail or at risk of losing any of his wealth or property. That is, of course, aside from his temporary residency in the White House. Instead, he would have lost his position, been banned from seeking federal office again, and then referred onto criminal charges where applicable.
The process of the trial doesn’t follow the traditional rules of a court of law.
Another area of inconsistency in this process is the Senate trial. At this point, it is decided if there is enough evidence against the current President to convict them of a high crime and remove them from office. Therefore, you would expect to see a professional, neutral courtroom trial with a strong prosecution and defense case and a neutral jury.
The reality here is that while there are prosecution and defense, with a chance to give evidence, make statements and present a case, the set-up is much different. There is also the fact that the jury that goes away to debate the findings are the Senate members themselves. The majority of which we know are currently Republican.
The process of the trial doesn’t follow standardized rules at all.
Furthermore, the rules for a Senate trial are created via a resolution for that specific situation. This essentially means that the Senate can adapt the process and make demands based on specific circumstances. There is no regulation and no clear attempt to follow any precedent. In some ways, this could make sense as impeachment trials are so rare and have to work within the case and the defendant’s parameters. It wouldn’t be right to use the same procedure from the 1868 Andrew Johnson impeachment process in the 1998 Bill Clinton process.
However, there was the sense that the Senate made things up as they went along with the Clinton case, potentially abusing their own power in the process. Perhaps we could have expected some regulation here, which might have followed on into the Trump case, but apparently not.
A lot of the issue with a lack of standardization and regulation stems from the Constitution. As was mentioned above, there is a lot of focus on an 18th-century document’s vague words open to interpretation. As there is little to no standardization for the process of impeachment in the Constitution, it is difficult to make a case that any modern-day process is unconstitutional.