Createda Constitution News Today

That that was what he sought, then this committee and this house could safely conclude that the president had committed bribery under the constitution. >> professor gerhardt, what is your view? >> i of course agree with professor karlan and professor feldman. and i just want to stress that if this -- if what were talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. this is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a constitution, including impeachment, to protect against. if th...

Blow then? he finished by saying, yes, id give the devil the benefit of the law for my own sake. so i will conclude with this, both sides of this controversy have demonized the other to justify any measure in their defense, much like roper. perhaps thats the saddest part of all of this. we have forgotten the common article of faith that binds each of us to each other in our constitution. however, before we cut down the trees so carefully planted by the framers, i hope you will consider what you ...

Wholesale basis with respect to oversight, not just impeachment? >> absolutely, yes, sir. >> thank you. professor feldman, as i understand it, the framers intended impeachment to be used infrequently, not as punishment, but to save our democracy from thets so significant that we cannot wait for the next election. in your testimony you suggest we face that kind of threat. can you explain why you think impeachment is the appropriate recourse here, why we cannot wait for the next election? those ar...

Were about corruption of elections and betrayal of the national interest involving foreign powers and how they come into play here? >> sure. let me start with the framers and what they were concerned with and bring it up to date because i think theres modern stuff as well thats important. the framers were very worried that elections could be corrupted, they could be b corrupted in a variety of different ways and they spent a lot of time trying to design an election system that wouldnt be subject...

Advancement, we live in a monarchy or under a dictatorship. thats why the framers created the possibility of impeachment. >> professor karlan, this high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power, was it some kind of loose or undefined concept to the founders of our country and the framers of our constitution? >> no, i dont think it was a loose concept at all. it had a long lineage in the common law in england of parliamentary impeachments of lower level officers. obviously they had not talked abou...

Antithetical to our democracy and nothing injuries the american people more than the president who uses his power to weaken their authority under the constitution as well as the authority of the constitution itself. may i read one more sentence? >> the witness may have another sentence or two. >> thank you. if congress fails to impeach here, the impeachment process has lost all meaning. along with that, our constitutions carefully crafted safeguards against the establishment of a king on america...

Ukraine, our ally, in a war that it is fighting against russia. so in the simplest possible terms, the president put his personal gain ahead of the national security interest as expressed, according to the evidence before you, by the entirety of a unanimous national security community. >> sir, is it your view that the framers would conclude that there was a betrayal of the national interest or national security by president trump on these facts? >> in my view, if the framers were aware that a pr...

In our constitution, the framers allowed elections to serve as a crucial means for ensuring presidential accountability. second, in the british system, the king could do no wrong and no other parts of the government could check his misconduct. in our constitution, the framers developed the concept of separation of powers which consists of checks and balances designed to prevent any branch, including the presidency, from becoming tyrannical. third in the british system, everyone but the king was ...