Impeachment and the Constitution

Rather than discussing what President Trump did or did not do, I would like to look at the Constitution and how some are interpreting it.

The House voted to impeach him on two counts. The first deals with his actions toward Ukraine. They have said he was trying to affect the outcome of the election and was so dangerous he should not be allowed to run for reelection. He went about it in his usual clumsy manner but he was doing opposition research. That has been done since the republic was founded. He also campaigners and gives speeches to try to affect the election. Should he be prohibited from doing that?

The second charge relates to obstruction of Congress. Among the items he is charged with withholding are those he has gone to court to prevent their release. Apparently, he shouldn’t be allowed to do so. Other charges are regarding things he said.  Doesn’t he have First Amendment rights?

Now we have a situation in which the Constitution is clear that Nancy Pelosi should turn the results of the impeachment vote over to the Senate. Instead, she is playing political games.

This has nothing to do with ideology or the people involved. I am greatly concerned when public officials say that people they don’t like shouldn’t have constitutional rights or that they can ignore the Constitution.
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Fortunately, James Madison’s system of checks and balances is working. It seems extremely unlikely that either party could get enough Senate seats to remove a president from office for political reasons.