Instigator / Pro
0
1702
rating
77
debates
70.13%
won
Topic
#1990

Resolved: The House should vacate its impeachment of President Trump

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
0
0
Better sources
0
0
Better legibility
0
0
Better conduct
0
0

After not so many votes...

It's a tie!
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
Three days
Max argument characters
12,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
0
1509
rating
2
debates
75.0%
won
Description

The House, having the constitutionally mandated “sole power of impeachment,” [Article I, section 2, clause 5], is the only body of government that can take the unprecedented responsibility to vacate the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The basis for this resolve will be fully developed in arguments from the Pro side [the side I take] during rounds of the debate. Con will take the opposing view that such vacating of an impeachment is not appropriate even when demonstrated violation [as Pro will demonstrate by evidence] of House Rules occurred.

Definitions:
The power of impeachment: “The House of Representatives shall chose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” - U.S. Constitution, I.2.5. This is the sum total verbiage in the Constitution relative to impeachment of a federal officer.

Impeachment: Relative to the Constitution, the authorized means for the House of Representatives of the United States to charge a federal officer [the President, Vice President, and all federal officers of the United States] with “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” [U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 4] via Articles of Impeachment submitted to the Senate for an impeachment trial.

Background: On December 18, 2019, the House officially voted [230 – 197] to impeach President Donald Trump on charges of two Articles of Impeachment: Abuse of power, and obstruction of Congress. On January 16, 2020, trial on the impeachment began in the Senate, delayed by an unprecedented hold of the Articles of Impeachment by Nancy Pelosi [D-CA], Speaker of the House. On February 35, 2020, the Senate voted [52 – 48 on Article 1, 53-47 on Article 2] to acquit President Trump of all charges.

Protocol:

The burden of proof shall be shared by participants.

Rounds 1, 2, 3: Argument/Rebuttal/Defense
Round 4: Final Defense and Conclusion. No new argument allowed.

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@fauxlaw

I agree. It's quite a shame that no one has voted, I think it was a very reasoned and interesting debate.

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@Venberg

I thought we had a great debate. Wonder why we're not attracting voters? Well if we tie with no voter, that's crumbled cookies.

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@fauxlaw

I thank you for a spirited and intelligent debate as well, and I found this debate to be a true pleasure. I look forward to many more such debates.

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@Venberg

Venberg, I congratulate you on your presentations over the four rounds. Very well done, easy to follow, and well documented by sources. I also appreciate your candor, while remaining positively civil throughout. Regardless of the outcome, it has been a pleasure debating with you, and I look forward to another debate in the near future. Thank you very much for a lively and challenging debate!

Are they still pushing that? I thought it was a settled matter...

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@oromagi

I have modified the verbiage of the full description, removing the "unconstitutional" reference, exchanging it for violation of House Rules. You are correct, the Con issue will not be successfully engaged by demonstrating the constitutionality of the vacating, however, House Rules are affected by it.

"vacation is unconstitutional" is not the opposing view from the "house should vacate" although it is one argument against. Opposing views would be "house should vacate" vs. "house should not vacate" Whether vacation is unconstiutional depends on the definition of unconstitutional. The constitution does not mention such a power but gives the House the power to make the rules, including one presumes a rule for rettraction. So vacation is unconstitutional in the sense of non-constitutional but not in the sense of anti-constitutional.

DAs don't withdraw indictments just because the judge proved corrupt- I see no value to vacation except as an additional propaganda tool for use by an unchecked, destructive presidency.