Omar Bennett
On December 4, 2019, four constitutional scholars testified before Congress during President Trump's impeachment proceedings. Three of the constitutional experts—Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Pamela Karlan of Stanford University, and Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina—stated that Trump had met the criteria for impeachment laid out in the Constitution. The fourth scholar, Jonathan Turley of George Washington University, argued that there was a “paucity of evidence” supporting Trump's impeachment.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | 4th December 2019 |
| Number of constitutional scholars | 4 |
| Names of constitutional scholars | Noah Feldman, Pamela Karlan, Michael Gerhardt, Jonathan Turley |
| University affiliations | Harvard University, Stanford University, University of North Carolina, George Washington University |
| Impeachment inquiry | President Donald Trump |
| Impeachment criteria met | Treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, abuse of power |
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What You'll Learn
Pamela Karlan, Stanford University law professor
Pamela Susan Karlan, born in 1959, is an American legal scholar and professor at Stanford Law School. She is a leading legal scholar on voting rights and constitutional law. Before joining Stanford Law School in 1998, she was a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she won the All-University Outstanding Teaching Award in 1995-96 and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. She has also served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Karlan is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. She is also the co-director of Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where students get to litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. She has co-authored several leading casebooks on constitutional law, constitutional litigation, and the law of democracy. She is also the co-author of three books on constitutional law.
In addition to her academic career, Karlan has held various government positions. She served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2014 to 2015 under the Obama administration. She was awarded the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, the department's highest award, for her work in implementing the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor. She also served as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from February 8, 2021, to July 1, 2022.
On December 4, 2019, Karlan testified before the House Judiciary Committee alongside other constitutional scholars regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Her testimony included a remark about Trump's young son, Barron, which caused outrage among Republicans. She later apologized for the remark.
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Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina law professor
Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has a research focus on "constitutional conflicts between presidents and Congress". He has previously testified before Congress more than a dozen times, including as the only joint witness in the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the House.
Gerhardt has also provided closed-door testimony to the entire House of Representatives about the history of impeachment in 1998. He has served as special counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for seven of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices. In addition, Gerhardt has assisted members of Congress and the White House on various constitutional issues, including drafting the judicial selection policy for Bill Clinton's transition into office.
Gerhardt's extensive public service record also includes testifying in the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton in 1998 and the confirmation hearings for Associate Justice Alito. He testified again before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2012. During the 2021 second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Gerhardt served as special counsel to the presiding officer, Patrick Leahy.
Gerhardt is the author of six books, including leading treatises on impeachment, appointments, presidential power, Supreme Court precedent, and separation of powers. His most recent book, "The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy", was published in April 2013 by Oxford University Press.
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Noah Feldman, Harvard University law professor
Noah Feldman, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Chair of the Society of Fellows, and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard University, testified before Congress on December 4, 2019. He was one of four constitutional scholars called by the House Judiciary Committee during President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry. The hearing, entitled "The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment," aimed to examine the historical and constitutional basis of impeachment.
Feldman is a renowned American legal scholar and academic with a focus on ethics and constitutional law. He has authored ten books, including "The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery & The Refounding of America" (2021) and "Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices" (2010). His work emphasizes innovation, free speech, law and religion, and history. Feldman's impressive academic career began at Harvard University, where he earned his A.B. summa cum laude, graduating first in his class. As a Rhodes Scholar, he obtained a D.Phil. from Oxford University, writing his dissertation on Aristotle's Ethics. Feldman then received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as a book reviews editor for the Yale Law Journal.
Prior to joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Feldman was a professor at New York University Law School, where he became a tenured full professor in 2005. In 2007, he moved to Harvard Law School, initially as the Bemis Professor of International Law, teaching classes on the First Amendment, the Constitution, and the international order. In addition to his academic pursuits, Feldman is a policy and public affairs columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and has contributed to publications such as The New York Review of Books and The New York Times Magazine. He also hosts the Deep Background podcast, which explores the context behind major news stories.
Feldman's expertise and insights on constitutional matters have been sought by various organizations, including social media giant Facebook. In 2020, he proposed the idea of a "Supreme Court of Facebook," suggesting that the platform establish an independent body to decide on acceptable content, addressing challenges related to free expression and ethical decision-making. This proposal reflects Feldman's interest in exploring innovative solutions to complex issues at the intersection of law, ethics, and technology.
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Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, is a constitutional law expert who has testified in several United States congressional proceedings. He is a self-proclaimed First Amendment advocate and frequently writes about free speech restrictions in both the private and public sectors. Turley has also authored a book titled 'The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage'.
On December 4, 2019, Turley testified before the House Judiciary Committee, arguing against the impeachment of then-President Donald Trump. He objected to the effort to craft articles of impeachment around four criminal allegations: bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice, and campaign finance violations. He claimed that the evidence did not meet the standard definitions of those crimes. Turley characterised the charges against Trump as a "lowering of impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger".
Turley has also testified in Congress against President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic surveillance program, noting that "there are no hereditary kings in America". Additionally, he has served as counsel in several notable cases, including the defence of NSA whistleblower David Faulk and protesters at the World Bank/IMF demonstrations in 2000.
Beyond his academic and legal work, Turley is a nationally recognised legal commentator, ranking 38th in the top 100 most-cited 'public intellectuals' in a study by Judge Richard Posner. He frequently appears on news outlets such as FOX News to provide legal analysis and commentary on current events.
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Impeachment of Donald Trump
On December 4, 2019, four constitutional scholars testified before Congress regarding the impeachment of former US President Donald Trump. The four scholars were Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Pamela Karlan of Stanford University, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University.
The impeachment inquiry centred on Trump's alleged attempts to solicit foreign interference from Ukraine in the 2020 US elections. The specific charges included abuse of power, bribery, and obstruction of Congress. Three of the scholars—Feldman, Karlan, and Gerhardt—argued that Trump's actions met the criteria for impeachment laid out in the US Constitution. They contended that Trump's conduct constituted "high crimes and misdemeanors," as outlined by the country's founding fathers. Feldman, in particular, asserted that Trump had ""corruptly solicited" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, thereby committing impeachable offences.
Karlan, a Stanford law professor, emphasised that a US president should resist foreign intervention in elections rather than invite it. She also made a controversial remark about Trump's son, Barron, which drew criticism from Republicans. Meanwhile, Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor, warned that failing to impeach Trump would render the process meaningless. He highlighted the constitutional conflicts between the president and Congress, stating that no one is above the law.
The fourth scholar, Turley, took a different stance. While acknowledging his vote against Trump in 2016, he criticised the impeachment proceedings, arguing that there was a lack of substantial evidence to support the charges. He characterised the case against Trump as "the narrowest impeachment in history." Turley's perspective aligned with that of the Republicans, who accused the Democrats of rushing to judgment without sufficient proof of criminal activity.
The testimonies of these constitutional scholars played a significant role in shaping the impeachment process against former President Donald Trump, with Democrats in the House asserting that the inquiry was a duty, while Republican representatives dismissed it as a "sham".
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Frequently asked questions
Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Pamela Karlan of Stanford University, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and Jonathan Turley of George Washington University.
They testified about the impeachment of President Donald Trump, stating that he had committed impeachable offences by pushing Ukraine to open investigations to benefit him politically.
Michael Gerhardt stated that "If Congress fails to impeach, then the impeachment process has lost all meaning, and, along with that, our Constitution’s carefully crafted safeguards against the establishment of a king on American soil. No one, not even the president, is above the law."
Michael Gerhardt's teachings and research focus on "constitutional conflicts between presidents and Congress."
