Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to House Judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) on Saturday calling for the panel to add more witnesses to its first impeachment hearing.
As an academic, I am struck by this sudden respect for academic expertise. I mean, literally 1000s of academics have offered repeated advice on climate change, and the GOP response has been to stuff wax in their ears and to solicit no opinion.
How precious! A Republican member of the House calling for fairness! Thatâs world class chutzpah.
âThe call is coming from inside the House!â
Diamond & silk, jaCob WahL, ChaRlie Kirk and mikE gAetz must testify AbouT impeaChment! A flaT earth Demands all Sides to be considered. Fairness!
âTo ensure fairness and restore integrity to the ongoing impeachment process, I request an expanded panel and a balanced composition of academic witnesses to opine on the subject matter at issue during the hearing.â
Casting call for RWNJs
this is some first class trolling. If you thought a panel with 4 witnesses would be boring, imagine two panels of 10 witnesses. Collins wants to make absolutely certain no one watches.
I request an expanded panel and a balanced composition of academic witnesses
Five bucks says one of those intended witnesses is judge Neomi âmoebius reasoningâ Rao.
Coincidentally, all of Collinsâ proposed academics are professors at the Antonin Scalia School of Law.
âI request an expanded panel and a balanced composition of academic witnessesâ Let me guess where they will recruit their academic witnesses â Falwell Liberty University and Bob Jones University, for starters.
I hope Nadler tells him to piss off, very politely, of course.
Restore integrity?!? Fuck You Exclamation Point
I hope he rolls his eyes at him and walks away chuckling.
Just had to share
"I request that you expand the number of witnesses called upon to testify on December 4 to give the American people a wider array of perspectives regarding impeachment.â
My first thought is that Collins wants to create the appearance of differences of opinion on the bases for, and course of, the impeachment â a kind of of âbothsidesismâ to detract from the gravity of the hearings and provide team Reaction with something to run with.
Kinda like with the purported lack of scientific consensus on global warming.
If so, then this is nothing but a part of a strategy of muddying the waters and furthering divisions in the electorate.
Under those circumstances, granting the request is self-destructive.
Dear Minority Leader Collins:
In regards to your apparent request for a 4-fold increase in âimpeachment scholarsâ, we do not intend to expand the legal witness list with Republican hacks. We do not want to make this a Republican circus as Nunes, Jordan, and others did on the Intelligence committee. We know what impeachment is. We learned from the 19 academics during the Clinton impeachment.
The witness list is currently not public. Your reference to Laurence Tribe as displaying âanimosity toward the Presidentâ is uncalled for, and shows a biased viewpoint toward Professor Tribe for expressing his learned legal opinion.
And no, you will not get 50% of the witness list. You are the minority, remember?
Sincerely,
Jerry Nadlerâs First Thoughts
Ha! Guess where the aforementioned Neomi âmoebiusâ Rao taught.
actually, I think that Nadler should let the minority have their own panel --with as many academics as they like. Then have the majority counsel eviscerate the worst one or two âacademicsâ that Collins puts on the panelâŚand when his 45 minutes are up, say âIâm done hereâ and walk off giggling!
While we are dealing with the damage of Trump, the Swedes have invented ⌠a sailboat. Commercial carbon-free trans-Atlantic seafreight is only a couple years away.
I understand that Professor Mifsud is among the luminaries selected by the GOP for the panel, if he can be granted a safe passage. (Ed.)
âŚ,and always will be.