Tobias Barrington Wolff
11 January 2021
I am seeing a lot of frustration that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is waiting a couple of days to put the Article of Impeachment up for a vote, the frustration being that it is urgent to get the madman out of office as soon as possible. It may be helpful to clarify a few matters.
Speaker Pelosi and the House do not have the power to remove the madman from office by themselves. There are two available avenues. The first is Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Under that provision, the Vice President and a majority of the principal officers of the Cabinet can declare the sitting president incapable of executing the duties of the office. Here, the incapacity springs from mental and moral deficiency. Speaker Pelosi's first action this morning was to introduce a resolution of the House formally calling on VP Pence to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Because House Republicans objected, that resolution must be considered, debated, and voted on. That happens tomorrow. The resolution demands that VP Pence and the Cabinet invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment by Wednesday.
If VP Pence and the Cabinet fail to act, Speaker Pelosi will formally present the Article of Impeachment for incitement to insurrection, which was introduced (announced) today. That should happen on Wednesday. I believe it will have to be laid before the House for consideration and debate before being voted on, and I expect all of that to happen by Thursday. (It's possible the vote may happen Wednesday.)
Impeachment does not remove the madman from power. A conviction following an impeachment trial in the Senate is required for that, which takes a 2/3 vote. Senator McConnell, who still controls the Senate until the Inauguration, has made it clear that he will not call the Senate back into session to take up an impeachment trial until January 19 at the earliest. Thus, conviction in the Senate is not a practical possibility before the inauguration -- unless, God forbid, the madman takes some other catastrophic action so openly fascistic that even Senator McConnell decides that he needs to act with alacrity. A Senate trial following the inauguration is still vital to hold the madman accountable and disqualify him from ever holding office again. But removal through impeachment is not practical right now.
Speaker Pelosi is not delaying action to remove the madman from power. The House does not have that power. Rather, Speaker Pelosi is invoking every constitutional mechanism of accountability at her disposal and formally requiring Republicans in the Executive and Legislative Branches of government to go on record either acting to protect democracy and the rule of law or refusing to act. She is laying a broad and strong foundation of accountability using all the tools available in order to create an historical record, put maximum pressure on Republican enablers of this sedition, and establish a framework for the impeachment trial that will commence when Vice President Kamala Harris becomes President of the Senate and control of that body returns to Democrats.
