Commentary

The Papers Were Ready Before the Votes Were Even Counted

Posted on by Bill McCarthy

On the night of November 3, while the last returns were still coming in, a 17-page draft resolution sat online, already formatted as a House document for the 120th Congress. Blanks remained for a sponsor’s name, a resolution number, and a committee. The text itself was finished. It opened with the standard declaration that Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and it closed each of its seven articles with the demand for removal and permanent disqualification from federal office.

The author is a civil litigator who has practiced before the Supreme Court and who describes himself as politically independent. He posted the draft free for any member, staffer, or committee counsel to copy, edit, or introduce without permission. The period covered runs from January 20, 2025, through election day. Each article is written to stand alone so that one or more can be advanced without the rest.

What the Seven Articles Actually Charge

The first accuses the President of turning federal law enforcement against political opponents, critics, and the press. It cites court rulings that blocked executive orders aimed at certain law firms, a decision quashing subpoenas said to pressure the Federal Reserve chair, the dismissal of an indictment obtained by an improperly appointed prosecutor, and preliminary injunctions involving White House press credentials and a sitting senator. It folds in the cases against James Comey and Letitia James, actions against Senator Mark Kelly, and the dismissal of FBI personnel who had worked on earlier investigations.

The second centers on a personal lawsuit the President filed against the IRS and a proposed $1.776 billion fund that a federal court in Florida later called collusive and brought in bad faith. The third alleges violations of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses, pointing to acceptance of a Boeing 747 from Qatar without a congressional vote and to pending litigation over library land, digital-asset ventures, and special-envoy roles. The fourth charges unauthorized use of the armed forces abroad and at home: strikes on vessels, operations involving Venezuela and Iran, and National Guard deployments, citing the Declare War Clause, the War Powers Resolution, and court findings on the Posse Comitatus Act.

The fifth claims defiance of court orders and denial of due process. It combines the Abrego Garcia removal and prosecution, Alien Enemies Act flights, the birthright-citizenship executive order that the Supreme Court later addressed, immigration arrests, and federal officers’ shootings in Minneapolis. The sixth alleges interference with federal elections through postal rules, an effort to set aside more than 20,000 California mail ballots, and taxpayer-funded advertising before the midterms. The seventh targets the use of emergency powers to impose tariffs, resting on the Supreme Court’s February 2026 decision that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize them.

Many of the cited rulings are preliminary or still on appeal. The draft itself notes that committees should revise or drop charges if the evidence does not hold. Companion model articles for other officials were prepared at the same time.

How Fast the House Can Move

The new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027. Democrats will hold the majority and therefore control the calendar, the committees, and the ability to bring a resolution to the floor. Impeachment requires only a simple majority of the House. No Republican votes are needed. Once the chamber is organized, the Judiciary Committee can hold hearings, issue subpoenas, and mark up articles on a schedule of its own choosing. Earlier in the current Congress, members already forced floor votes on other impeachment resolutions within two days under the House’s expedited rules. Those efforts failed because Republicans held the gavel. That obstacle disappears in January.

Senior Democrats spent the campaign season saying their first priority would be affordability and that no one had approached leadership about an immediate presidential impeachment. That public caution has not slowed the outside drafting or the pressure from members who have already introduced multiple sets of articles during the present term. Groups have called for proceedings to begin on the first day the new majority is seated. The draft supplies ready language for that opening day or for any day thereafter.

The Senate remains the harder chamber. Conviction and removal still require a two-thirds vote. Even after the midterm losses, Republicans will hold enough seats to block that result under ordinary arithmetic. The House vote itself, however, needs no such consensus. The papers that appeared on election night are written so that the majority can act as soon as it chooses to act. The only open question is which week in early 2027 the majority decides the time has come.

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