Constitutional Process Quotes

The supreme majesty of the law and the power of this republican Government was illustrated anew to-day by the fresh scenes and proceedings in the great trial of impeachment. The business-like, almost matter-of-fact manner in which the Congress of the United States proceeds with this grave work is the most striking illustration of the innate love and reverence for law and order that characterize the American people.

This business of removing Judges by impeachment is a bungling way.

An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.

The nation should be able to remove by an orderly constitutional process any president with an unyielding commitment to failed policies and an inability to renew the country's hope.

If you look at the Constitution, the two clauses of the Constitution make it very clear the president shall nominate, and the Senate shall provide advice and consent. It's been since 1888 that a Senate of a different party than the president in the White House confirmed a Supreme Court nominee.

Nobody wants a stalemate in constitutional development.

A permanent constitution must be the work of quiet, leisure, much inquiry, and great deliberation.

The primary purpose of the Electoral College is to maintain the power of the states and to support the idea that the election is decided by the states. It's not decided by the general population, and it never was.

We are not going to round up and deport 12 million people, but we're not going to hand out citizenship cards, either. There will be a process. We will see what the American people are willing to support. But it will not be unconstitutional executive orders like the ones Barack Obama has forced on us.

The President sends first and asks our advice and consent afterwards.

Marriage and the creation of families has been an integral part of our society since its creation; it should not be defined without the kind of involvement by the people which a constitutional process would require.

It may be considered as an objection inherent in the principle, that as every appeal to the people would carry an implication of some defect in the government, frequent appeals would in great measure deprive the government of that veneration which time bestows on every thing, and without which perhaps the wisest and freest governments would not possess the requisite stability . . . a constitutional road to the decision of the people ought to be marked out and kept open, for certain great and extraordinary occasions

Impeachment is a bungling way to remove judges.

For a long time in American history, people didn't even come up before the Senate. They didn't come before the Judiciary Committee, and up until about 1923, something like that.

There is going to be no involvement of America in war unless it is the result of the Constitutional process that is placed upon Congress to declare it.

[Impeachment is a] method of national inquest into the conduct of public men.

[The Electoral College] affords a moral certainty that the office of the Presidency will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.

If the constitutional process is not brought to a successful conclusion before the European elections, then the whole process might run out of steam.

I just accept that, if my party and my compatriots wish that I be removed from office, they must exercise that right and do so in the manner prescribed in the Constitution.

As you may have heard, the U.S. is putting together a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? Think about it - it was written by very smart people, it's served us well for over two hundred years, and besides, we're not using it anymore.

However much extra-political forces may influence particular constitution-making situations or constitutional acts, ultimately both involve directly political expressions, involvements and choices.

If anything has cheapened or trivialized the process by which Trump was impeached, it was House Republicans' refusal to treat the proceedings with the seriousness the Constitution demands.

To be clear, impeachment is above all else a political act.

Any Supreme Court confirmation needs to be a thoughtful process, with full respect for the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.

I would also hope that no one would think about trying to amend the constitution as a political strategy.