In December 2019, I joined all of my Republican colleagues in voting against the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. Just over a year later, I voted against President Trump’s failed impeachment effort. why? This is because his actions did not seem to rise to the level of an impeachable crime.
Today I find myself in a similar but different situation. My House Republican colleagues are on the brink of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Prices? The task of protecting the southern border was a complete failure.
Let me be clear, Secretary Mayorkas. have Completely failed in his work. he is incompetent He is a shy person. And he will probably be remembered as the worst Secretary of Homeland Security in U.S. history.
However, the Constitution is clear that impeachment is reserved for “.treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors;” Misgovernment and incompetence fall short of what the Founders considered impeachable crimes.
A partisan impeachment that fails to meet constitutional standards will boomerang and hurt the Republican Party in the future. In a future Republican administration, we can imagine a Democratic-led House using this precedent to take on Republican cabinet members who don’t perform their jobs the way Democrats want them to.
In effect, we are now doing what House Democrats rightly claimed they were doing in 2019 and 2021: a partisan impeachment push that is not based on the actual provisions of the Constitution.
Respected legal scholar Jonathan Turley said last week that “being a bad minister or even a bad person” is not impeachable. In fact, weaponizing impeachment undermines both the Constitution and the seriousness of impeachment.
Similarly, attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented President Trump in his first impeachment trial, recently penned an op-ed calling the same “vague and unconstitutional” statements that House Republicans unfairly used against President Trump. He said he was targeting Secretary Mayorkas for these reasons.
The failed policies and decisions that Secretary Mayorkas has made in recent years clearly reflect the views and policies of President Biden and his administration. If Mr. Mayorkas is removed from office, President Biden will likely appoint another incompetent person who will implement the same failed approach.
Most Americans know about presidential impeachments, but few can name the only member of the presidential cabinet to be impeached.Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1876 For his involvement in receiving kickbacks from an Army post in Oklahoma. As Secretary of War, Belknap had complete control over these outposts and the licenses granted to the “trade,” resulting in the creation of traders and criminal organizations to maintain the outposts. Secretary Belknap’s wife then received a portion of the payment. After some debate, the Senate ultimately voted to acquit Belknap, who was a civilian at the time.
Although many other impeachment resolutions have been introduced throughout our nation’s history, Secretary Belknap remains the only Cabinet secretary to actually be impeached by the House of Representatives. Importantly, since Secretary Belknap, there have certainly been other incompetent and blundering Cabinet members who were not removed from office through unconstitutional impeachment.
The Biden administration’s failure to rein in an open border is a national disgrace and will leave a stain on President Biden’s legacy. But the truth is, this is a policy disagreement masked as impeachment. Furthermore, Mayorkas cannot be convicted by the Democratic-led Senate.
Principles matter, and we cannot have a double standard for impeachment based on which party controls the White House. House Democrats were wrong when they impeached President Trump in 2019 and 2021, and they will be wrong when Republicans impeach Mayorkas in 2024.
The constitution is clear. I will vote against impeaching Secretary Mayorkas.
Ken Buck is a member of the Colorado 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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