{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Agree","color":"#624A5F","stance":"agree"},{"text":"Disagree","color":"#ECB637","stance":"disagree"}],"id":38723,"title":"Should the House Censure President Trump Instead of Impeaching Him?","html_content":"

by Countable's Trump Impeachment Coverage | 11.26.19

House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump has so far failed to gain Republican support, which prompted a Democratic lawmaker over the weekend to suggest pursuing a censure resolution rather than articles of impeachment before she later clarified her comments.

Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) said the following on a Michigan radio program on Sunday:

“We are so close to an election. I will tell you, sitting here knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of taking him out of office. But I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable… I want him censured. I want it on the record that the House of Representatives did their job and they told this president and any president coming behind him that this is unacceptable behavior and, under our Constitution, we will not allow it.”

Lawrence, who voted in favor of launching the impeachment inquiry with all but two of her Democratic colleagues, issued a statement on Monday to clarify that she still supports impeachment:

“I was an early supporter for impeachment in 2017. The House Intelligence Committee followed a very thorough process in holding hearings these past two weeks. The information they revealed confirmed that this President has abused the power of his office, therefore I continue to support impeachment.”

Even if House Democrats were to opt for a censure resolution instead of articles of impeachment, it's unclear whether congressional Republicans would be willing to support the less severe presidential rebuke.

What would censure involve?

Censure in Congress doesn’t carry a formal punishment aside from the public humiliation of being formally & publicly admonished for misconduct by lawmakers.

The only U.S. president to be expressly censured by Congress is Andrew Jackson in 1834, although Congress later expunged his censure. There have been a few other near-censures of presidents by Congress:

\n1860: The House voted to admonish, rather than censure, President James Buchanan and his Navy Secretary.
\n1864: A resolution was introduced to censure President Abraham Lincoln but it was revised to not overtly censure him before it was adopted.
\n1912: A resolution was introduced to censure President William Howard Taft but it was revised to generally condemn certain presidential actions without naming him.

Censure resolutions have been introduced against every president since Bill Clinton, though none have received votes.

What’s next in the impeachment probe?

After Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess, the House Intelligence Committee is expected to transfer its impeachment report to the Judiciary Committee. Hearings will then be held in the Judiciary Committee with the first on December 4th, and potentially in other committees before any articles of impeachment or a censure resolution are referred to the House floor.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: The White House via Flickr / Public Domain)

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Veteran, CSU and UC alum, retired from technology field. My Hispanic partner of 15 years and I left California forever in 2018 and settled down in rural Indiana (yeah, the middle of Trump country, but the trade-off for making my home here is in the peace and beauty of the land). LGBT friendly, I believe in the goodness of people even when it can’t be readily seen; I’m a common sense gun owner with two handguns in the house and a prayer that I never have to use either. Classing myself as a progressive liberal, my awakening and introduction to the America of today came while walking home from 2nd grade on November 22, 1963 as I watched traffic stopped, car radios on, and drivers, passengers and pedestrians crying in their cars and in the streets. I have voted in each and every election since I was able to vote. I fault our founders for a failure to specify that public service in an elected capacity should be a privilege rather than a career and I fault a partisan Supreme Court for bringing unlimited private funding into our elections. Through all of my parents’ differing political and other opinions, the one thing that stands out in my memory of growing up... 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Won’t listen to slogans, chanted mantras or generally any kind of marketing spin or “rebranding” crap. I firmly believe that everyone else is entitled to their erroneous opinions. Citizen vigilance and due diligence is price we must pay to live in a thriving, functional democracy.\nI fear that our citizens are too easily swayed by politician’s pablum about “babies”, “jobs” and now, in particular, perceived “enemies”. I fear that a citizenry focused on the “here-and-now” is easily tricked by short term benefits that have negative long-term consequences. I fear that our legislators are more concerned about buffing their constituents than looking out for the long-term welfare of our country- and are way too eager to provide those short-term benefits to the “here-and-now” crowd.\nI fear that honor is generally being sacrificed/replaced by expediency. I hear politicians eloquently argue for one side of an issue and later, when it’s to their benefit, just as eloquently argue for the opposite side. OK, so they are good at arguing- but what is that they actually believe? What is it that they actually stand for? An honorable person has values that persist even when it is not convenient or expedient. An honorable person has a moral compass that stops them from doing something wrong even if it is not illegal. A foul is a foul- even if the referee doesn’t catch you.\nI fear that each of our federal governmental branches have devised or discovered shortcuts which tend to protect them from the checks and balances our founders intended.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"jimk","issue_count":4,"is_following":null,"influence_score":48270,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":1633,"following_count":88,"position_count":567,"id":"9odrQBnb","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1120426,"body":"He is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and deserves the ultimate judgment, which is impeachment. He has been a disgrace to the Presidency. 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