Resignations and the 25th Amendment

The Boston Globe had a story this morning suggesting that some of these recent cabinet-level resignations were motivated by a desire either to avoid invoking the 25th Amendment or to avoid voting on it if invoked. First of all, the 25th Amendment is simply not the proper way of removing this President. It exists so as to provide a constitutional process by which to remove a President who’s become mentally incapacitated, i.e. by a stroke or something like that. Although I think Trump committed a criminal act by inciting a crowd to riot, that is not proof of his mental … Continue reading Resignations and the 25th Amendment

Impeach, Remove, and Prosecute

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that there was a good argument for Biden pardoning Donald Trump. I no longer think he should be pardoned. I was making an argument there on the basis of prudence. The prudential question was: how much justice are you sacrificing relative to how much security you’d be gaining? The scales have now tipped further in the direction of justice and less in the direction of security. Impeaching, removing, and then prosecuting a seditionist seems worth it even if it risks some violence. Trump’s excesses of irresponsibility and disrespect for both the law and … Continue reading Impeach, Remove, and Prosecute