Constitutional Scholars Testify in Impeachment Hearings

FEATURING COREY BRETTSCHNEIDER – The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday took up the baton of the impeachment process from the House Intelligence Committee, holding its first public hearing. Four constitutional scholars and professors were called in to be witnesses, three of them by Democrats and one by Republicans.

Professor Noah Feldman of Harvard University laid out the logic of the constitution’s framers in designing an impeachment process. Professor Pamela Karlan of Stanford University sharply rebutted Republicans for avoiding the facts of the Ukraine scandal at the heart of the process. And Michael Gerhardt at the University of North Carolina stated succinctly, “If what we’re talking about isn’t impeachable, then nothing is impeachable.”

On the Republican side Jonathan Turley, a Professor at George Washington University claimed to be non-partisan but denounced the impeachment process and said it was moving too fast and would set a dangerous precedent.

Corey Brettschneider, professor of political science at Brown University. He is the author of When the State Speaks, What Should It Say: How Democracies Can Protect Expression and Promote Equality. His latest book is called The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future.