During former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, senators should be seeking to answer a political question, but they're instead been left to ponder a legal one, David A. Graham writes for The Atlantic.
The House's single article of impeachment alleges Trump incited a violent insurrection on Jan. 6, but Graham believes focusing so heavily on the term "incitement" provides Trump's defense team with "an opening" to argue, as they've already done, that he was speaking "metaphorically" at the rally which preceded the breaching of the Capitol last month. "In legalizing what is rightly a political matter, however," Graham writes, noting that Trump should instead be on trial, more broadly, for his months-long efforts to overturn the presidential election results, "the managers inadvertently encouraged recourse to the legal definition of incitement, and in particular to the Supreme Court's test for what constitutes the crime of incitement in Brandenburg v. Ohio, which, in the interest of protecting free speech, creates a difficult bar to surmount in a criminal court."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
6 isolated homes for hermitsFeature Featuring a secluded ranch on 560 acres in New Mexico and a home inspired by a 400-year-old Italian farmhouse in Colorado
-
Magazine solutions - May 9, 2025Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 9, 2025
-
Magazine printables - May 9, 2025Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 9, 2025
-
US, Ukraine sign joint minerals dealspeed read The Trump administration signed a deal with Ukraine giving the US access to its mineral wealth
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Israel launches air strike on Beirut suburbsSpeed Read The attack targeting Hezbollah was Israel's third on the Lebanese capital since November's ceasefire
-
Dozens dead in Kashmir as terrorists target touristsSpeed Read Visitors were taking pictures and riding ponies in a popular mountain town when assailants open fired, killing at least 26
-
Israel blames 'failures' for killing of medicsspeed read 14 Gaza medics and 1 U.N. employee were killed by IDF special forces
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
China accuses NSA of Winter Games cyberattacksspeed read China alleges that the U.S. National Security Agency launched cyberattacks during the Asian Winter Games in February
-
Russian strike kills dozens in UkraineSpeed Read The Sumy ballistic missile strike was Russia's deadliest attack on civilians this year
