“The First Amendment does not apply in impeachment proceedings.” If there is a single line that sums up the sense of legal impunity in the second Trump impeachment, it is that line from a letter sent by law professors to deny any basis for the former president to challenge his impeachment on free speech grounds. The scholars call any such arguments “legally frivolous” but only after misstating the argument and frankly employing a degree of circular logic. While I agree with aspects of the letter, I believe that the thrust of the letter misses the point of those of us who have raised free speech concerns.
The scholars start by stating the obvious: that there is no First Amendment “defense” that bars the impeachment or conviction a president. Since there is not even a requirement that a high crime and misdemeanor be an actual crime, few argue that there is a categorical bar on the use of speech for the basis of impeachment under the First Amendment. The scholars go to great length to contest an argument not in dispute in stating “Congress’s power to impeach is not limited to unlawful acts.” However, that is not the argument that has been raised by many of us about the implications of this poorly drafted article of impeachment.
Constitutional rights and values are always relevant to an impeachment. While many subscribe to the “anything goes” school of impeachment, these senators did not take an oath to act like politicians but actors in a constitutional process under an express standard for conviction. They are performing a constitutional, not just some political act. As such, they need to weigh the gravity of conduct and the implications of any conviction for the future. Ironically, some of these scholars have emphasized that this is a purely political process where senators have free range in determining what they consider to be a basis for conviction. Yet, Trump’s objections of constitutional and prudential concerns are being widely dismissed as frivolous, “bad faith,” or irrelevant to that decision.
It is common in impeachments for the House and the Senate to evaluate charges in reference to criminal and constitutional cases. While not controlling, they often weigh heavily in the review of articles of impeachment. Yet, these scholars insist that “The First Amendment does not apply in impeachment proceedings, so it cannot provide a defense for President Trump.” That may be technically true in the sense of an actual defense to enjoin or bar impeachment in court. It is not true in the sense of a free speech concern over the implications of a conviction of political speech in America. The senators must weigh if Trump’s language on Jan. 6th constitutes actual incitement to insurrection. The use of incitement as the basis for impeachment necessarily raises how incitement is defined. That raises cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio which are ultimately First Amendment cases. Understanding how such language would be viewed by the courts is relevant to weighing whether it should be treated as constitutional violation for the purposes of impeachment. Just as courts balance the value of criminal prosecution against the impact on free speech, the Senate can perform that same balancing in an impeachment trial.
This is not a new issue. We often discuss analogous constitutional and criminal cases in impeachments. That was the case when I testified in both the Clinton and Trump impeachments. In the Trump impeachment, I opposed the much discussed articles of impeachment on bribery, extortion, campaign finance and obstruction of justice. My testimony primarily focused on the legal and constitutional flaws in claiming those criminal acts, which were portrayed as both prosecutable and impeachable. However, I said that the Committee could legitimately impeach on claims of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power if they took the time to create a record to support such charges. Ultimately, the House did impeach on those two articles but did not wait to create a sufficient record. Those arguments referenced criminal codes and cases as persuasive, not controlling, authority which is common in impeachments.
Suggesting that the First Amendment has no relevance or applicability to an impeachment proceeding is chilling. In recent years, many academics have sought to justify censorship on the Internet with an analogous argument. They argue that private companies like Twitter are not subject to the First Amendment, which only applies to the government. It is another obvious but largely irrelevant argument. Those of us who have denounced the rising censorship on social media do so as a denial of free speech. The First Amendment is not synonymous with broader values of free speech.
The question for senators is whether they should be concerned that the President’s speech would not be considered actual incitement as a criminal matter in federal court. The answer is that, of course, they should. That is particularly a concern when critics of the President, including members of this Senate “jury” have engaged in similar over-heated and reckless political rhetoric. The Framers saw impeachment as reserved for cases of constitutional clarity. That clarity is achieved by comparison to conduct of others – both as criminal and protected matters.
As a secondary argument, the scholars insist that “The First Amendment … does not grant the president the freedom to engage in a willful dereliction of duty.” The statement is again conclusory and largely irrelevant. Trump is accused of seeking to incite an actual insurrection or rebellion, not just the “willful dereliction of duty.” The status and intent of his words are the crux of the matter. Moreover, the argument is circular. It is arguing that this is not protected speech because it is incitement. However, if it is not incitement, it is protected speech. Cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio are used to determine if speech is criminal incitement or protected speech. Such speech can be protected to preserve free speech in society, particularly in political settings.
Notably, when the scholars finally get to the whether Trump’s words constituted incitement, they admit that they are divided on the question. They noted that “many of us believe there is a powerful case that even under the Supreme Court’s narrow standards for when speech inciting violence is not constitutionally protected.” So some believe that there is a “powerful case” and some do not. Both sides can fairly (not “frivolously”) reach such conclusions.
Thus some of these scholars (like some senators) believe that Trump’s speech might indeed be protected under Brandenburg. However, if that is true, then the President might be retroactively removed from office for language that would be viewed as protected speech in federal court. That is not determinative on the question but it is obviously relevant in weighing the culpability of using these words.
As a criminal defense attorney, I am highly skeptical that prosecutors could sustain such a charge but I accept that this is a matter of good-faith disagreement. I believe it would ultimately collapse, if not at trial than on appeal. While Trump does call for citizens to “fight” for their country and used aggressive rhetoric, he also told them to protest “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” He also says that the reason for the march is that “we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” That may explain why, in a crime described over a month ago as clear and obvious by experts, has not resulted in an interview, let alone a charge, from prosecutors. If the case is so clear and “powerful” as these experts allege, charge him. However, I expect many are concerned with testing such claims when Trump could prevail in the federal courts – an act that would be viewed as a vindication for not just that case but the impeachment itself.
In the end, however, the primary argument is not just a first amendment claim but a free speech claim. In judging the culpability of a president’s speech, the Senate must consider how this impeachment impacts free speech for presidents in declaring such speech to be a constitutional violation of his duties. That means that free speech is relevant, as is prior political speech deemed protected under the First Amendment as essential to our democratic system. The Senate should consider how this riot was an attack on democracy. But it should also consider the impact of sanctioning political speech on that same democratic system.
The effort to dismiss such free speech concerns avoids the necessity of drawing lines of comparison or addressing the inherent subjectivity of such a standard. For example, various Democrats from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been criticized for threatening and irresponsible rhetoric. Indeed, just two days before the trial, Recently, Missouri Rep. Cori Bush was criticized when some felt she was justifying the violent takeover of a prison in St. Louis by tweeting the words of Martin Luther King that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” I believe such statements are not only protected under the First Amendment but exercises of free speech. I would take that position if there was an effort to sanction or expel Bush in Congress. If the Senate wants to vote on a basis for legal or moral clarity, it must consider Trump’s comments in this overall context of free speech.
These are difficult questions and lines to draw. However, the resolution will not be found in declaring that free speech (or narrower First Amendment) values have no place in the trial of former President Donald Trump.
For shorter version of this column appeared on Fox.com
If as the Democrats say, that impeachment is a political process and can be done for any reason and can disregard settled law on Constitutional protections, then each Senator can make their own decision regarding “removal” based on any reason, including adhering to settled law on Constitutional protections.
While we’re on the subject of the 1st Amendment, this is the Democratic Party:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/new-york-attorney-general-files-lawsuit-republican-activists-including-bevelyn-beatty-planned-parenthood-protests/
“The First Amendment does not apply in impeachment proceedings.”
4A? 5A? 6A? Those are gone, too? Politicians acting in their official capacity can flout the Constitution? Or only in *this* case?
A private citizen can invoke 1A, but a public official cannot? Or is that only if your name is “Trump?”
Those are not principled constitutional arguments. And those are not principled legal scholars. The are propaganda prostitutes, driven by: the ends justifies the means.
Maybe crime victims should not be allowed to sit on a jury to decide guilt of the accused who assaulted them.
Some people say: lock Trump up and throw away the key. I don’t agree. Send him to Mar A Lago.
This is not a jury trial. The Senate isn’t a jury.
The Senate sitting in a trial on impeachment is considered to be a jury
Turley in his response to the legal scholars’ letter only focuses on Trump’s speech of January 6th. He has consistently ignored acknowledging the entire course of Trump’s rhetoric before and after the election, that is, Trump’s proclaiming that if he loses it will be on account of massive fraud. Turley would have us believe that the primary issue is the President’s right of free speech. He ignores the argument that Trump’s overall conduct violated his Constitutional duty to faithfully uphold the law and his oath of office.
The law professor’s letter states:
“President Trump’s speech, and the overall course of his conduct, advanced the factually baseless position that the election had been “stolen” and, further, that immediate action was necessary to prevent Vice President Pence and Congress from counting and confirming the votes of Electors that had been submitted (and certified) by the States. The evidence shows that President Trump deliberately assembled the crowd of supporters; that he steeled his supporters for action and knew that they were ready to take immediate action; that he directed them to take such immediate action; that President Trump said he would be with them in such action and supported such action; that he intended such action to accomplish the unlawful disruption of the constitutional processes of Congress in counting the votes of Electors and certifying the results; and that many persons in the mob that attacked Congress and the Capitol understood themselves to be doing exactly what President Trump had directed and intended for them to do.”
Jeffrey, your response is a bunch of slimy crap inasmuch as you are ASSUMING there was no fraud in the election. Mail in ballots ALWAYS promote fraud. The history of the Democrat Party has be plagued by it throughout history. This is why we can NEVER have a real, legal election with real, live Citizens being the only ones who vote ONCE again unless we have VERIFIED VOTER ID in EVERY STATE!
Trump was making an informed prediction and he was right. Dominion Voting Systems were SET UP to be hacked and changed. That Is a fact. Liberals throwing up smoke screens and calling in their tokens does not change that. Biden is a crook and his presidency is a real farce.
I traveled to Russia in 1990 at the age of 17 from California as part of a U.S. Government-sponsored student exchange program that only sent youth from the U.S. to Russia when no youth were sent to the U.S. from the U.S.S.R. I had people I met there tell me how they felt about Pravda and THEY PRAISED OUR FREE PRESS. I remember them telling me stories of people they and their families had known who were taken by the KGB and they never heard word of it otherwise. The amount of men of service who have committed suicide after witnessing historic political events recently alarms me. The deep state is vast and the arm of power in a world-leading country whose power and wealth rivals any the history of our species has ever seen… has a crook dressed as a cowboy and “fingering a minor” on a guitar adorning the cover of GQ. This is the same crook who participates in bribes and hacked races. The elite of media must smear the stench of sin in the faces of every Christian Citizen who cares to notice! They are incredulous and arrogant, avaricious even.
Not very Democratic.
I see the liberal base either slipping away or slipping into a coma from drug use.
Either way, nobody we know is long for this existence. Love the ones you are with!
Those professors don’t have a Right to speak freely about this issue. They can get fired.
Name One.
The argument is both true and false.
The real question which the authors miss is what do WE THE PEOPLE want impeachment to be.
While it is clear from the constitution and the debates that our founders sought to narrow impeachment.
They provided no mechanism to assure that. There is no check on congress. Impeachment is whatever the congreess wishes – so long as the courts refuse to step in.
But there are massive problems with the impeachment is whatever we wish it to be argument.
It will enevitably further and more bitterly divide us.
There is nothing to stop the next republican house from impeaching pelosi, and schumer and waters and Biden and even Obama.
If we weaponize impeachment it becomes a tool to thwart all government action – that is very sonservative.
First of all, this impeachment trial is not what any reasonable person would describe as a court of law. Using the following definition, this is nothing more than a Kangaroo Court:
Definition of kangaroo court
1: a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted
2: a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedure
Doesn’t a jury trial involve voir dire? Would any of these “jurors” be dismissed?
Would a jury trial be presided over by a party to the prosecution?
Is there any requirement that witness testimony and evidence be considered to vote?
Essentially, does the Senate have to consider anything to vote in favor of impeachment?
It’s not a jury trial. The Senators aren’t jurors. At Sen. Harkin’s request, Chief Justice Rehnquist addressed that issue in Clinton’s impeachment trial –
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798631219/are-senators-trying-a-president-jurors-clinton-trial-ruling-says-they-are-not
Thank you. That validates my point, especially this quote from the article:
“First of all, I think that’s safest, but also most accurate because they are not jurors and they are not judges,” Engel adds. “A judge, of course, has to follow different rules set up by the federal rules of procedure. Whereas this court, the Senate court, can do whatever the heck it wants.”
Which begs the question: is there a constitutional purpose for debating defendant rights in an impeachment trial?
There’s a legal basis for debate, as the Senate has rules it has resolved to abide by for impeachments, and those rules give the impeached person rights. Whether you consider that a constitutional purpose is up to you.
The constitution gives the Senate the authority to set their own rules. If as you say, those rules are how the impeached is provided rights and not our Bill of Rights, then at best this discussion has more of a moral and not constitutional purpose.
It’s the direct opposite of a court of law.
It’s a simpering reincarnation of a revolutionary tribunal during the Great Terror – possessed with the same mindless hatred that threw the Princess de Lamballe to the ravening mob.
Impeachment is ruled by the Constitution only. Therefore, only the numbers matter. If they have the votes to confirm with both sides of our Congress then they may pass the judgment and Trump would be banned. Libs want this in the Court of Public Opinion tho… They want to slap this wet, warmed steaming mound up on screens as many days as possible. Clickbait ain’t just living in the fantasies of every manipulator involved in this Cult of Personality. It is catching our populous like a virus you cannot pay to rid yourself of. Keanu Reeves has the right idea. If only the rest of us could learn how to sacrifice—we would be living in Paradise. NATIONAL SECURITY should be the most important focus this point forward. Period.
I thought the best, single sentence summary was “Sentence first, verdict later”.