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Controversy Rages Over Whether Trump's Impeachment Trial Is Constitutional

Masood Farivar

   Three times in American history, the House of Representatives has
   impeached a president, and each time the Senate has voted to acquit him
   -- most recently a year ago when then-President Donald Trump was
   charged with seeking to pressure Ukraine's president into gathering
   political dirt against Trump's political rival, Democrat Joe Biden.

   Trump made history again this month, when he became the first president
   to be impeached a second time -- this time accused of instigating his
   supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol January 6 to prevent Congress from
   certifying Biden's election victory over Trump.

   The new impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection was approved by
   the House on January 13, a week before Trump left office. But with the
   Senate set to formally try the former president beginning on February
   9, a constitutional controversy is swirling over whether the Senate can
   try and convict a former president.

   The question is not an academic one. On Wednesday, 45 of 50 Senate
   Republicans mounted an unsuccessful attempt to derail Trump's trial by
   questioning its constitutionality in a floor debate and roll call vote.

   Their reasoning: Once a president is out of office, he becomes a
   private citizen and cannot be tried and convicted even if he's already
   been impeached by the House. It is an argument that Trump's lawyers are
   expected to make while pressing for the former president's acquittal.

   "Private citizens don't get impeached," said Senator Rand Paul, a
   Kentucky Republican and a staunch supporter of Trump. "Impeachment is
   for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office."

   Yet the question of whether a former president can be tried remains
   unsettled and even those who dispute its constitutionality acknowledge
   there is room for debate.

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