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Mercurial Dershowitz Absurdly Claims DHS Head Mayorkas 'Committed No Impeachable Offenses'

Senate Television via AP, File

Yes, attorney Alan Dershowitz is a mercurial sort. Unlike George Washington University Law School professor, columnist, and political commentator Jonathan Turley, the retired Harvard Law School professor often plays both sides against the middle. Such was the case in his latest newsletter.

Dershowitz proclaimed in the headline of his newsletter, which was posted to Substack on Friday: "Whatever Mayorkas Did or Didn’t Do, He Committed No Impeachable Offenses."

Dershowitz's proclamation comes on the heels of the Republican-majority House of Representatives voting to impeach Mayorkas as the illegal alien invasion continues virtually unchecked while the embattled Homeland Security head continues to claim (lie his ass off) that he's just doing his job.

Dershowitz began by insisting:

To the contrary, his impeachment is based on the kind of policy and partisan differences that were implicitly rejected by the framers of the Constitution.

In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton warned that “the greatest danger” of Congress abusing its power to impeach would be if “the decision [to impeach] will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.” 

The impeachment of the Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, by a partisan vote of 214-213 manifests this danger.

While I'm not a constitutional scholar, I do know that Mayorkas, doing Joe Biden's bidding, has ignored and circumvented existing U.S. immigration law from the beginning. As a result, the number of illegal border crossings since January 2021 totals more than 8 million people — with some reports estimating more than 10 million since Biden took office.

Not to question Dershowitz's logic, but his following observation was ridiculous (emphasis, mine).

The original vote not to impeach was 214-216. Nothing about the guilt or innocence of Mr. Mayorkas changed in the time between the votes. The only thing that did change was the number of Republicans and Democrats available to cast votes in the House on a particular day. 

The one-vote margin for impeachment resulted from the fortuity — for the Republicans — that one Democrat tested positive for Covid, and another was delayed by a mechanical problem on his airplane. Had they both been able to vote no, as they intended to, impeachment would have been denied again.

Uh-huh, and if ifs and buts were candy and nuts (I hate that silly saying), meaning if Democrat politicians had their way, every state in the Union would be overrun with illegal aliens, and Republicans would never again win an election — local, state, or the presidency.

Dershowitz got the first line of the following section right.

Mr. Mayorkas will be acquitted by the Senate, hopefully by a vote that includes many Republicans as well as all Democrats. This reality too shows how impeachment by the House, in the face of absolute certainty of acquittal by the Senate, has turned impeachment from a procedural prerequisite to removal into an independent tool designed to serve purely partisan political ends without regard to whether it will be followed by removal. Indeed, there will be no serious effort by Republicans to remove Mr. Mayorkas. 

Acquitted by the Democrat-majority Senate, yes. Also yes: partisan politics. However, calling the impeachment of Mayorkas "purely partisan" because the chances of convicting the embattled DHS head lie somewhere close to negative-zero is simply incorrect.

There were two primary grounds justifying Mayorkas' impeachment by the House. First, he has willfully and brazenly refused to comply with federal law, including multiple provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, eagerly releasing millions of illegals into this country. 

Here's more:

[Mayorkas] abused the statute allowing for parole on only a case-by-case and temporary basis and oversaw more than 1.7 million paroles. He created categorical parole programs contrary to the statute. In the interior, he directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel not to detain most illegal aliens, including criminals. In his September 2021 enforcement guidance, the secretary directed that unlawful presence in the country was no longer sufficient grounds for removal, and that criminal convictions alone weren’t enough to warrant arrest. This guidance was contrary to the law.

Dershowitz concluded his hack job thusly:

Whatever the vote in the Senate, the damage has been done and Hamilton’s danger has turned into a wound inflicted on the Constitution by partisans on both sides.

With all due respect, Mr. Dershowitz — your partisanship is showing.

The Bottom Line

Did you notice what Dershowitz didn't say? The noted "constitutional scholar" failed to include a single word backing his claim that Alejandro Mayorkas "committed no impeachable offenses." 

Why do you suppose that is? Never mind — the question is rhetorical.


Related:

WATCH: Ted Cruz Backs House Impeachment of DHS Head Mayorkas for 'Openly Defying Federal Law'

CBP and ICE Agents Describe DHS Sec. Mayorkas As 'Dumpster Fire,' Applaud His Impeachment

Kennedy and Hawley Tag Team to Take Apart Mayorkas on Two Critical Issues

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