Impeachment: How fast and how far should the House go?
WASHINGTON >> The dilemma facing House Democrats is captured by one of the most internally contradictory phrases in American legal history. In the muddy language of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, they must proceed “with all deliberate speed.”
Goldilocks rules again: “Not too fast, not too slow, just right.” Alas, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Goldilocks never wrote a playbook for dealing with Donald Trump.
But proceed Congress must, and those counseling against impeachment now overlook the obligations of Congress that transcend politics and the duty of political leaders to lead, not follow, public opinion during crises. They also misunderstand changing public opinion.
And they don’t understand Trump.
The elation among Trump’s opponents when Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry was quickly joined by worries about the implications of that. There are also important practical questions about what to do next.
One question certainly concerns speed.
If Democrats move too fast, they risk not having time to broaden impeachment articles beyond the Ukraine matter to make clear the depth of Trump’s corruption.
But moving slow brings the November 2020 election closer; Trump’s apologists will say impeachment is undemocratic. Never mind that it is Trump’s actions that are genuinely antidemocratic: encouraging a foreign leader to intervene in that very election, hiding his skullduggery from Congress and the public, and threatening the whistleblower’s sources.
Moreover, Trump and Attorney General William Barr will do all they can to obstruct, confuse, obfuscate, change the subject and smear the president’s critics.
Thus, combining deliberation and speed is imperative. An impeachment process covering all of Trump’s wrongdoings would take — well, forever. Laying out the details of the already clear-cut case against Trump on the Ukraine matter will consume enough time.
The House should pass articles of impeachment before 2020 so the Republican leaders in the Senate can’t punt on it and say, “Let’s leave it to the voters.” Pelosi and her colleagues thus need to decide what they can do in a short timetable, then get it done.
Trump’s egregious behavior in trying to bring down Joe Biden by itself encompasses nearly every transgression of his presidency: lies, cover-ups and the selfish misuse of power; putting his personal interests ahead of our nation’s security; and an arrogant and unconstitutional dismissal of Congress’ legitimate authority.
Those who see impeachment as a political mistake miss the point. Pelosi waited until the latest revelations to act because she understood a basic truth: Nothing would be better for our country in the long run — at home and around the world — than a decisive negative verdict on Trumpism from the American people.
But knowing what we now know, nothing would be worse for our constitutional system than for Congress to do nothing in the face of clear evidence of Trump’s desire, once again, to get foreign help in an election and his absolute indifference to the law or his presidential responsibilities.
Like every bully, Trump will abuse and abuse again until someone stands up to him. If the House did not, it would send a message that the Ukraine charges are just more meaningless noise to the very voters who, if the Senate fails to convict Trump, will still have to decide his fate.
And those voters should not be underestimated. Already, the new revelations have begun to change public opinion on impeachment itself. The House’s job is to make a strong and focused case — and to trust the people’s moral sense and their reverence for our institutions.