One week after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6—and just minutes after President Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives—Adjunct Professor Jerry Goldfeder and Professor Jed Shugerman shared their perspectives on impeachment and the 25th Amendment at a Jan. 13 panel discussion hosted by the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA). Both serve on the NYSBA Task Force on the Presidential Election, which is chaired by Professor Goldfeder.
“No matter how you feel about this president of the United States, and no matter how you feel about the article of impeachment and what the House just did in its vote, it’s an obviously sobering moment for the United States,” Professor Goldfeder said to the 400 virtual attendees. “It is rare for the power of impeachment to be used. It is even more rare for it to be used against a president of the United States. And, of course, it is unprecedented for a president to be impeached twice.”
Because the article of impeachment passed with a majority of 232 to 197 votes—with 10 House Republicans joining the vote—the article of impeachment now moves to the United States Senate. A trial, likely to take place after Trump leaves office, will be held by the Senate to determine whether to convict Trump, which could bar him from holding federal office again.
Professor Shugerman pointed out that “there’s nothing in the text [of the Constitution]that suggests that impeachment is limited to sitting officials.” Senator William Blount and Secretary of War William Belknap, he noted, were tried in 1797 and in 1876, respectively, after leaving office.
“Someone can be impeached, removed, and disqualified. And that process of the trial can happen after they’ve left office,” Professor Shugerman continued.
Professors Goldfeder and Shugerman also reiterated that because Vice President Mike Pence stated he would not invoke the 25th Amendment, it is no longer an option for possibly removing the president. Looking ahead, they said there will be an increased focus on pardons.
“Up until 2020, there were just a handful of us who studied impeachment, who understood it, who looked at all the issues with regard to the 25th Amendment, and now the pardon power,” Professor Goldfeder said towards the end of the discussion.
“Now, you literally walk down the street and people are talking about it, which is a good thing. It means that people have a much better understanding of the Electoral College process, the whole electoral process of the way Congress functions, what a president can do, what a president can’t do.”
The entire panel discussion can be viewed on NYSBA’s YouTube page.