Tag Archive for: impeachment

Dr. Kevin Baron is the Assistant Professor of American Politics at Austin Peay University in Clarksville. He initially posted this as a TWITTER THREAD. 

I wrote to my Senators about impeachment, discussing my concerns about the lack of seriousness with which they seem to be taking it, and their endless stream of partisan nonsense.

Here’s the response I got from Senator Marsha Blackburn:

It raises additional concerns.

First off let me begin by noting I’ve spent nearly the past decade studying and researching executive/presidential power, and feel like I know a thing or two about it.

Second, impeachment is nothing like charging an individual with a crime and in continuing this claim Marsha just adds to the confusion over the inherently political process that impeachment actually is.

Aside from the Constitution, we can look to the Federalist Papers – 65 and 66, and in particular Hamilton’s writings on the presidency – to understand Trump’s actions easily meet the supposed “high bar” to which she refers. Courting foreign interference into domestic electoral politics is exactly the kind of thing the Framers were concerned about. For Hamilton, impeachment was Congress’ ultimate check on the executive, just as the president has veto power as a check over Congress.

Next, Marsha claims the House is not and has not been following “due process” – again, impeachment is political, not legal, so there is no due process in the same sense as in our legal/judicial system, as the process is established by existing rules and precedent, and by any rules that a majority of the House agrees to –  just as in the Senate for the trial, whereby the Senate will have to have a majority vote to change or create new rules.

Last, Blackburn’s “concern” over the process of the House is not justified in reality. If she were even paying attention to a modest amount of coverage she would see the process unfolding exactly as the House has determined, but the bigger issue is that if Blackburn were truly concerned and cared about the Constitution she would be preparing to take the entire process, especially her role in the Senate, seriously – which from where I’m sitting does not seem to be happening. It also raises concerns as to why she would block election security bills and other efforts to protect elections in the US and ensure voting rights for all Tennesseans.

While I appreciate the fact that her office responded to my comments, I really don’t expect that she’ll be keeping my comments in her thoughts during this process.