UR such a Jackoff.
An absurd end result to which no one subscribes.
Article II, Section 4 must have force. It tells us the president, vice president and civil officers may be impeached and convicted. Donald Trump is no longer the president.
Likewise, the provision states that officers subject to impeachment and conviction "shall be removed from Office" if convicted.
"Shall."
As Justice Story explained, "the Senate, [upon] conviction, [is] bound, in all cases, to enter a judgment of removal from office." Removal is mandatory upon conviction.
Clearly, he explained, that mandatory sentence cannot be applied to somebody who has left office.
The entire process revolves around removal. If removal becomes impossible, conviction becomes insensible.
In one light, it certainly does seem counterintuitive that an officeholder can elude Senate conviction by resignation or expiration of term.
But this just underscores that impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice.
Impeachment, conviction, and removal are a specific intra-governmental safety valve. It is not the criminal justice system, where individual accountability is the paramount goal.
Indeed, Justice Story specifically reminded that while
former officials were not eligible for impeachment or conviction, they were – and this is extremely important – "still liable to be tried and punished in the ordinary tribunals of justice."
Put anther way, in the language of today:
President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn't get away with anything yet – yet.
I don't agree with McConnell. But his Senate colleagues did.