One More Reason Trump's Senate Trial Can Proceed after January 20

It's all in the punctuation (seriously). Here is the relevant passage of Article I, Section 3:

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.

Note the location of the initial comma, inserted between removal from office and disqualification to hold any future office. This indicates that the two available judgments are distinct, the second is not dependent upon or derivative of the first. It follows that a Senate trial may be held solely to determine whether the impeached person will, if convicted, be disqualified to hold or enjoy any office in the future.

Comments

[TS]

I happen to agree with the conclusion that a former officer could be tried for the purposes of disqualification, but do we really give so much credence to a comma, especially given the idiosyncratic use of punctuation in the late 1700s in the US? E.g. the majority's reliance in DC v. Heller on a comma to separate "a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,..."

[anon]

If T is so discredited, so thoroughly repudiated and so repugnant, why the concern about reelection?

Two possibilities:

1. The Democrats want to use the impeachment process to make a point.

2. The Democrats actually fear that T will be reelected.

Which is it?

As to 1., the notion that T is vicariously liable for anything the most extreme people in this country might do is ludicrous. I think that the Dems actually do understand this. The "evidence" likely will not show any actual incitement based on T's speech on that day, as the Dems repeatedly falsely claimed in the House "hearing" (two hours of debate on an impeachment).

2. I don't know if Dems actually believe that a prohibition is necessary to prevent T from taking office. If they do, then this is cogent proof that the Dems hold about 50% of Americans in contempt, because Dems believe, a.) T is the devil, and b.) therefore, anyone who voted for him is a devil worshiper. (On MSNBC, this very accusation has been stated explicitly recently, just substitute "KKK" or "White Supremacist" for "devil").

No. 2 is truly disturbing. If this is the reason Dems support the frivolous use of the Senate's time, then the claim that Biden will "heal" the nation is just more Dem bs.

The dems used to complain constantly that McConnell said, upon Obama's election, that his no. 1 political priority would be to deny Obama a second term.

Within days after T was elected, the Dems declared, in the press, "Let the impeachment begin." It is truly stunning to have heard them, in their bubble, reinforce each other's feverish hyperbolic claims. One after one, these false claims slipped away, only to be replaced by even more bogus claims.

This sort of bad faith claim too will be gone soon. It will go nowhere.

So, enjoy the posturing and virtue signaling while it lasts!

[A non]

"This sort of bad faith claim too will be gone soon. It will go nowhere."

Maybe.

Alternatively, they will keep being made precisely because there's no accountability. If so, now that the United Democrat Front has succeeded in overthrowing its "enemy," the factions will employ the same tactics against each other, Jacobin vs Dantonist vs. Girondist style. The "liberal" "centrists" are in for a wild ride.

Au revoir, America.