By Harold Pease, Ph. D.
The Constitution is very clear on Impeachment. To impeach someone requires both houses of Congress to act independently of the other. The House of Representatives, based upon the number of people living within each state, is the people’s representative; the Senate, limited to only two representatives regardless of population, represents the state. The House alone—therefore the people—formulates the impeachable offenses. When the House delivers the impeachable offenses the accused is impeached. In the case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas two articles of impeachable were delivered: one Mayorkas’s “Willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” and two his, “breach of public trust.” Mayorkas perjured himself with many false statements under oath to Congress.
The Senate must then try the accused on only these two offenses either convicting or acquitting him. President Trump was impeached twice by the House and acquitted twice by the Senate. But Senate Democrats unanimously in each article voted not to follow the Constitution. They voted not to try Mayorkas. This is not an acquittal. Nowhere in the Constitution is a trial optional. The people spoke when the articles were delivered to the Senate. The Senate’s only option is to try the accused. Both houses are conjoined in this function: one accuses, one tries.
Constitutionally neither the Executive nor the Judicial branches function in the impeachment process. The Judicial Branch was not given any power to impeach (see Article III, Section 2, Clause 3. The “Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by jury…. (Article III, Section 2, Clause 3).
The president has authority “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment” (Article I, Sec. 2, Clause I). He cannot pardon impeachments. Article II, dealing with the Executive Branch, does define what are impeachable offenses. “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors (Article II, Section 4). Misdemeanors are defined as “minor wrong doing” so the Founders did expect leaders to have some measure of integrity. And “He shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Art. I, Sec. 3). This is what the accused has defied.
The legislative branch alone has the power to impeach thus when one of its two houses refuses to function, no other government branch can. The Constitution is thwarted and the accused remains in power to continue undermining it indefinitely until a new president is elected. This was never the intent of the Founders. The Senate must do its duty to try the accused or the Constitution cannot give remedy or justice as was intended. Otherwise this part of the Constitution dies.
LibertyUnderFire attempts to present the mostly censored side of the issues it covers. Every research depends on the Internet to some degree. In it the Deep State has its articles listed first. It is not uncommon to scroll through 50 or more articles on a subject before finding the other side on their narratives. In this case, we went through 47 before finding a good explanation on House Articles I and II. It was Senator John Kennedy’s press release on the Articles and follows.
“In its first article of impeachment, the House alleges that Secretary Mayorkas has, ‘willfully and systematically refused to comply with federal immigration law.’ The House says that Secretary Mayorkas has refused to detain some illegal Immigrants, as the law requires him to do, and has instead embraced his own catch-and-release scheme in which he has released huge numbers—I think any fair-minded American would call 8.6 million people huge—huge numbers of illegal immigrants into the United States.
“The House says that Secretary Mayorkas has refused to follow unambiguous and clear federal laws that require him to detain illegal immigrants who are subject to deportation for engaging in criminal or terrorism-related behavior. The House says that Secretary Mayorkas has failed to make case-by-case parole determinations, which the law clearly requires—clearly—and, instead, he has—on his own—he has paroled millions of people illegally into the United States en masse.
“In its second article of impeachment, the House alleges that Secretary Mayorkas has breached the public’s trust in two respects: by knowingly making false statements to Congress that the border is ‘secure,’ and that the Department of Homeland Security has,‘operational control’ of the border, and by failing to comply with subpoenas issued by congressional committees seeking to exercise oversight over DHS activities.” He had defied congressional committees.
How serious is it? “If the Senate dismisses these charges” which it just did, “without a trial, … it will be the first time—the very first time—in the Senate’s long history that it has dismissed impeachment charges against an official it has jurisdiction over without that official first resigning.” He added ,”We must have a trial, “Precedent demands a trial…Respect for the House of Representatives demands a trial…Respect for the law… demands a trial…and the American people demand a trial.” The United States Senate should do its job.” (Kennedy: Senate must hold Mayorkas impeachment trial, John Kennedy press release, March 6, 2024).
Senators voting to dismiss these charges by not holding trial on Mayorkas, as required by the Constitution, are knowingly aiding and abetting the invasion of America and are an accessory to the crimes committed by the illegals, including the murder of Laken Riley (“Laken Riley Murder Suspect Released Over lack of Detention Space.” By Stephan Dinan, Washington Times. April 18, 2024).
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly columns, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org. Column # 764.
Subscribe now for free columns at this address. Help preserve our Republic while we still can by sharing this column.