Impeachment: Now or never

In dissent from Monday’s order, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the majority had ignored a federal law that requires due process. ...

Justice Sotomayor wrote that the majority had endorsed lawlessness.

"The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard," she wrote.

Here's a paywall-free link to the New York Times article. 

Due process, also known as habeas corpus, is a fundamental right. Without it, we don't have a system of laws: we have an authoritarian system. If habeas corpus is quelled, the rule of law is threatened or extinguished because it removes the fundamental safeguard against arbitrary detention, allowing the state to imprison individuals without legal justification or accountability.

Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas recently introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump, but for another reason, for the military strikes against Iran.

There's a case to be made there, but it's not the strongest or most urgent case. The urgent case is that Trump is asserting the right to "disappear" anyone he finds inconvenient. This is a linchpin of authoritarianism. Vladimir Putin would approve of the tactic.

Today Trump's administration claims he only needs this power to deport illegal immigrants. The trouble is, once someone is beyond the reach of United States law, it's too late for them to receive due process. It's too late for that person to assert their right to a lawyer or to speak to a judge to defend themselves.

Perhaps next, he'll decide to try the same tactic against an inconvenient member of Congress (like Representative Al Green) or an inconvenient Supreme Court Justice (like Justice Sotomayor). He may not be able to plausibly claim they are illegal immigrants, but he can make up some excuse, and by the time anyone objects, those people will be unreachable by the U.S. legal system.

Sound far-fetched? They've already amply demonstrated their willingness to physically restrain a sitting U.S. Senator, Alex Padilla, when he had the temerity to attempt to raise a question to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a press conference.

They're making it abundantly clear that nobody is safe, and that any attempt to block the executive branch from acting however it wants will be squashed. Again, it is bald-faced authoritarianism. It is not the democracy that our founding fathers wanted; rather, it is an attempt to upset the balance of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

What’s to protect the weak from the powerful if you don't have a law to protect those who are vulnerable to arbitrary government action?

The Supreme Court does not work for the President. Congress does not work for the President. They are intended to be separate branches equal in power to the Presidency. But if Trump has his way, he will cow them into submission.

This is why the time is now to impeach and remove Donald Trump. It must be done before he gets up the nerve to try it against members of the other two branches, and establishes an extremely dangerous precedent.

Here's an easy and free way to identify your members of Congress (your two senators and your representative), Contact My Politician. Just type in your home address and it will tell you their names. You're looking for two members of the U.S. Senate and one member of the U.S. House.

Here's a page of suggestions for how to write to your members of Congress.

Here's some text you can use for your two Senators -- feel free to copy/paste it and adjust to your liking:

Please voice your support for articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for his flagrant disregard of habeas corpus, the principle that everyone deserves a chance to defend themselves in court before they're hauled off to some prison on foreign soil. If the House succeeds in impeaching Trump, please vote to remove him from office immediately. This must be done now. The Trump Administration is threatening the balance of powers enshrined in the Constitution. If you don't assert Congress's power to check the Executive immediately, you may soon find Trump using it to eliminate members of Congress who oppose his policies. Furthermore, if you fail to voice your support for impeachment and removal on these grounds, I pledge to throw my support behind any candidate for your office who is more willing to act, to see you replaced in the next election. Either he goes, or you do.

And here's some text you can use for your representative in the House:

Please introduce, or vocally support, articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for his flagrant disregard of habeas corpus, the principle that everyone deserves a chance to defend themselves in court before they're hauled off to some prison on foreign soil. This must be done now. The Trump Administration is threatening the balance of powers enshrined in the Constitution. If you don't assert Congress's power to check the Executive immediately, you may soon find Trump using it to eliminate members of Congress who oppose his policies. Furthermore, if you fail to voice your support for impeachment on these grounds, I pledge to throw my support behind any candidate for your office who is more willing to act, to see you replaced in the next election. Either he goes, or you do.

This wording may seem stark, perhaps even belligerent. But I believe it's called for. (You may not need the "Furthermore" if your Senators or Representative are Democrats.) We need to send a strong and clear message in a single voice. Feel free to share links to this article in social media.

When Benjamin Franklin was once asked what type of government the Constitutional Convention adopted, his cautionary response was, "A republic, if you can keep it." He is no longer here. We are. It's up to us.