Where Are the Civil Libertarians? The Gross Unfairness of the Trump Impeachment

Where Are the Civil Libertarians? The Gross Unfairness of the Trump Impeachment
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (C) arrives to sign an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 13, 2021. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
Rob Natelson
Updated:
Commentary

A “high misdemeanour” is “a crime of a heinous nature, next to High Treason.” — Encyclopaedia Britannica (1778)

America has no lack of organizations allegedly concerned about civil liberties. They and their law-professor allies squawk loudly if any celebrated thug isn’t treated with strict procedural fairness.

But the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is another matter. Never mind that the sovereign power of the U.S. Congress has been launched to crush a private citizen. Never mind that the proceedings are grossly unfair on multiple counts. The “civil libertarians” have either fallen silent or joined the wolf pack.

Rob Natelson
Rob Natelson
Author
Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor who is senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver, authored “The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant” (3rd ed., 2015). He is a contributor to The Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution.”
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