On MSNBC this morning, former federal attorney Joyce Vance worried that Trump might have an out on the second Article of Impeachment, i.e. that Trump had taken to the courts to argue for his right to defy the subpoenas from Congress. The idea is that, by taking the issue to court, Trump has demonstrated that he is operating within the law.
Trump’s defenders might make that argument, but it is as bogus as the rest of their defense.
The most important reason is that Trump’s argument to the courts to defend his defiance is so blatantly indefensible that it warrants no respect at all.
1) If the President has no obligation to respect congressional subpoenas in an impeachment investigation, that amounts to saying that the President is above the law and not bound to respect the Constitution. It amounts to nullifying a quite essential piece of the system of “checks and balances.” That is patently unacceptable. Indeed, the case Trump has brought to the courts is preposterous.
2) Saying that the President’s legal arguments regarding that defiance are so patently absurd as to not warrant being taken seriously is bolstered by the opinions of several judges who have ruled on various arguments that Trump’s lawyers have made in different cases. (Quotations from the opinions handed down by these judges — unusually harsh condemnations of Trump arguments — can be supplied.)
3) It has been widely understood that Trump’s strategy with respect to the courts has consistently been NOT to take defensible positions, but to litigate in order to run out the clock. Cases of this sort — of the kind that Ms. Vance worries the Republicans can use to say that Trump was somehow still in some sort of compliance with the law — can take YEARS to resolve. For the Democrats to leave the nation exposed to the “clear and present” danger posed by a lawless President with contempt for the Constitution (and without a commitment to the national interest), while cases move slowly through the courts, would be a dereliction of duty.
4) And in particular, as the Democrats have said repeatedly, the fact that the impeachable offenses include Trump’s cheating in an election, combined with the nation having that very presidential election coming up in a matter of months, makes the need for dealing with that lawlessness especially urgent.
I dare say it’s probable that the House Managers are prepared to swat down the argument that Ms. Vance worries about. But just in case, I thought I’d outline this counter-argument now.