A Christian legal firm submitted a legal analysis to the Senate ahead of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, agreeing with his defense team, who argue the proceedings are unconstitutional.
“The United States Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, has been asked to attain the unattainable: To try and convict a former president – a private American citizen – who holds no office from which he could actually be removed,” a memorandum released by the American Center for Law and Justice on Monday said, adding that a conviction would “violate the text and structure of the United States Constitution.”
A post announcing the memo was written by Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the ACLJ. He is the son of Jay Sekulow, who served as lead outside counsel during Trump’s first impeachment trial in January 2020 and is the chief counsel of the politically conservative, Christian-based social activist organization.
“ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow (my dad), myself, and other senior leaders of the ACLJ’s legal team have more experience with impeachment than anyone else. And at the ACLJ, we’ve been fighting for decades to defend the Constitution,” the younger Sekulow wrote. “Now, we at the ACLJ have compiled a detailed and comprehensive constitutional legal analysis of the unconstitutionality of this Senate impeachment trial of a former President, and today we are delivering that critical legal analysis directly to the U.S. Senate.”
Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, his second in as many years, is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with House impeachment managers arguing that the timing of Trump’s impeachment is consistent with the Constitution. Trump was impeached last month on a charge of incitement of insurrection in connection to the Capitol riot.
“There is no ‘January Exception’ to the Constitution that allows Presidents to abuse power in their final days without accountability,” they wrote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer claims Trump’s statement and actions surrounding the Capitol Hill siege, including challenging the results of the 2020 election, were too grievous to ignore.
“Former President Trump committed, in the view of many, including myself, the greatest offense ever committed by a president of the United States,” said Schumer. “The Senate will conduct a trial of the former president, and senators will render judgment on his conduct.”
The ACLJ issued a response to the New York senator that mirrored its current memorandum, stressing that the process is illegitimate given Trump’s status as a private citizen.
“There is nothing in the Constitution that provides for this, and in fact, several sections of the Constitution would preclude this trial from taking place,” wrote Jordan Sekulow. “Yet, the radical Left – including … Schumer and House Impeachment Managers … are willfully ignoring the Constitution itself in pursuit of a political show trial.”
Jay Sekulow, a vocal Trump defender, made headlines last month for an apparent swipe during the former president’s challenge to the results of the 2020 election. After Trump claimed that former Vice President Mike Pence possessed “the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” Sekulow offered a contradictory position.
“Some have speculated that the vice president could simply say, ‘I’m not going to accept these electors,’ that he has the authority to do that under the Constitution,” he said during a broadcast of his radio program. “I actually don’t think that’s what the Constitution has in mind.”
