Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Trump Cannot Be Tried for January 6 Under Double Jeopardy Clause

The indictment itself offers nothing new; it reads like the report of the January 6 Committee, or the second impeachment resolution against Trump.

The Double Jeopardy Clause, contained within the Fifth Amendment, prevents any person from being tried twice in a federal court for the same crime.

It does not prevent someone from being tried for the same crime in a state court and a federal court, because state and federal governments are considered to be "Dual sovereigns." But it applies to the federal level - and while an impeachment trial in the Senate is not a formal criminal proceeding, it has many of the same features as a federal criminal trial.

One of the Constitution's Impeachment Clauses, in Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, does say that a person who has been convicted by the Senate in an impeachment trial can still face a federal criminal trial: "The party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law." It does not say that a person who has been acquitted by the Senate can still be subject to the criminal process.

As Alexander Hamilton himself observed in Federalist 65, a Senate trial risks of being decided by political factors.

Therefore Trump is protected by the Double Jeopardy Clause.

The new indictment should be quashed before trial, and the country should be spared the drama. 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/02/pollak-trump-cannot-be-tried-for-january-6-under-double-jeopardy-clause/

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