You’re so petty, little EIEIO, that you won’t even admit that Congress persons are not “civil officers” of the United States despite having that Constitutional provision shoved under your nose — very publicly — several times.
The idea that members of Congress are not civil officers within the meaning of the Constitution is an unsubstantiated contention.
One
compelling argument made by Senator Bayard, that a member of Congress was within the meaning of “civil officer” was because of existing legislation. That Legislation was enacted, March 1, 1792—
An Act relative to the Election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and declaring the Officer who shall act as President in case of Vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President. LINK
According to the legislation the
“officers” eligible were first the president pro tempore of the Senate, and Speaker of the House second, and as such, they clearly fall within the definition of being officers of the United States.
With respect to the currently unresolved question -
if a member of Congress is within the constitutional meaning of a civil officer - and to avoid supplanting our personal opinions as the rule of law, our only legitimate recourse it to do our best to uncover the evil which our founders were trying to address when including the process of impeachment in our Constitution.
The historical record during the making of our Constitution, along with the ratification debates of our Constitution, provide documentation of the evil being addressed and is shown to be, by a
PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE, that the impeachment provisions were intentionally adopted by our Founders to deal with anyone who abuses their federal public trust.