The group of prominent conservative lawyers known as “Checks and Balances” has issued a statement calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. They have done so to provide cover for other conservatives to follow suit. The statement reads, in pertinent part:
We believe the acts revealed publicly over the past several weeks are fundamentally incompatible with the president’s oath of office, his duties as commander in chief, and his constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” These acts, based on what has been revealed to date, are a legitimate basis for an expeditious impeachment investigation, vote in the House of Representatives and potential trial in the Senate.
The members of this group are all established conservatives, most of whom served in Republican administrations:
Jonathan H. Adler (Volokh Conspiracy commentator and Case Western Law Prof.)
Donald B. Ayer (deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush)
George T. Conway III (husband of KellyAnn)
Carrie F. Cordero (GC of the Center for New American Security)
Charles Fried (Harvard Law Prof.)
Stuart M. Gerson (former Acting Attorney General)
Peter D. Keisler (former Acting Attorney General under President George W. Bush)
Orin S. Kerr (Volokh Conspiracy commentator and Berkeley Law Prof.)
Marisa C. Maleck (former clerk to Justice Thomas)
Trevor Potter (former chairman of the Federal Election Commission)
Alan Charles Raul
Jonathan C. Rose
Paul Rosenzweig
Andrew Sagor
Jaime D. Sneider
J.W. Verret (GMU’s Scalia Law School Prof.)
Several have made additional statements to the Washington Post, including these:
Paul Rosenzweig, who served as President George W. Bush’s deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department on Homeland Security, said he personally would have gone further than the group’s comments, which are stern, but measured in tone.
“It strikes me that no reasonable attorney can doubt that there was a quid pro quo here,” said Rosenzweig, referring to Trump’s holding back military aid to Ukraine while requesting the country investigate former vice president Joe Biden.
“I would vote for impeachment, and I would vote for conviction and removal in the Senate as well,” Rosenzweig said.
...
Rosenzweig said the goal of the joint statement is to give Republicans “intellectual cover” to stand up with other conservatives and say, “the emperor has no clothes” and “do the right thing.”
The Republicans in Congress have “been a greater disappointment to me than Trump himself,” Rosenzweig said. So far, not one has come out in support of an impeachment inquiry.
“Trump is Trump. His nature is his nature. He’s not any different than the person I knew he was going to be three years ago,” Rosenzweig said.
“But the people who I cannot hold any honor for are the Republicans. There’s lots of really smart Republicans who understand what’s at stake here. They are not stepping up and throwing a flag,” he continued. “They all know it’s wrong. They’re not idiots. They just need the courage, so if others say it first, perhaps that helps.”
We should all cheer them on!