Careful with the pots-and-kettles, friend. Not only are Senators “civil officers of the United States” subject to impeachment, but there’s historical precedent: Senator William Blount of Tennessees was the first federal official to face impeachment.
Since senators are not considered civil officers, Sherrerd’s point stands: there is no constitutional provision for the impeachment of senators. The charges against Blount were dropped.
The charges against Blount were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because he had already been expelled from the Senate and was thus no longer a Senator.
That’s right, but most authorities believe that these circumstances left the question (of whether or not a US Senator is a ‘civil officer’ and thus can be impeached) undecided.
There are differing opinions floating around. But most will concede that the matter is, at the very least, ambiguous. And as I said: the Constitution makes no provision for the impeachment of Senators.
Seems a fair run-down to me. The result of this conglomeration of types, of course, is voting that can lead to some regrettable results.
And in the interest of fighting, rather than promulgating, ignorance: I was mistaken. Senators (and Congresspersons) are explicitly prohibited from holding “civil office” in Section 6 of Article I. Mea culpa. :o
To the larger question of whether Senators can be impeached, it’s true that one has been. It’s also true that each house of Congress has been granted the power to expel members, and it may reasonably be argued that this obviates any need for impeachment (although a counterargument may note that said houses cannot prevent expelled members from attaining office in the future). And it is undeniably true that, although the Constitution does not define “civil officers,” it does specifically exclude members of both houses of Congress.
TL;DR: I was wrong. Disregard my erroneous assertion that Senators are “civil officers.” They are not.
The expulsion possibility does seem to take the place of impeachment for members of Congress.
As for Article I Section 6: that’s a tad ambiguous, too, as it appears to apply to ‘double duty’ (being elected a member of Congress and then being appointed to some civil office in addition to being a member of Congress). No doubt there is extensive commentary on this available from Constitutional scholars, but for the moment I’d be content with the ‘expel, don’t impeach’ idea.
And of course Trump is still, unambiguously, wrong.
Not to junior mod or anything, but Sherrerd and mjmlabs, could you fer chrissake take it easy on the respectful and enlightening civil discourse? This is the fucking Pit, after all.
That’s a fair point. I shall take that under advisement, and strive to comport myself more in accordance with prevailing social norms, and community standards, henceforth.
In my defense, I may have been confused by the incursion of Pit-like behavior in other fora recently. Also, I’m pretty wasted right now, which is admittedly no excuse.
I linked to that Ron Johnson interview in the impeachment inquiry thread. There was suspicion that maybe he wasn’t quite comfortable with Trump’s behavior. That interview settled that! (Turns out, Johnson doesn’t give a shit, and instead of answering simple questions goes on a red faced shouting “whatabout” psychotic episode.)
On CBS Sunday Morning, Jane Pauley read the story about Trump/Romney and ended with “Senators cannot be impeached.” Jane said it; I believe it; that settles it.
As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over…the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!