Dive into the background of the 9 impeachment managers Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected to current the case to the Senate within the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, and a standard thread will emerge: deep expertise within the legislation.
All geared up with legislation levels, the 9 managers embrace Democrats who served as notable characters in Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial and a few who’ve spoken out forcefully in opposition to Mr. Trump within the aftermath of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Earlier impeachment trials have proven that the position of impeachment supervisor can deliver helpful recognition to representatives and elevate their political profile. Lindsey Graham, now the senior senator from South Carolina, served as an impeachment supervisor within the Senate trial of President Invoice Clinton. Consultant Adam Schiff of California served because the lead supervisor in Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial.
The six males and three girls whom Ms. Pelosi selected replicate the geographic and demographic range inside the Democratic caucus.
Listed below are the 9 Home Democrats who will prosecute the previous president:
Maryland
Jamie Raskin
Consultant Jamie Raskin, who started drafting the article of impeachment in opposition to President Trump mere hours after insurrectionists descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6, will function lead impeachment supervisor. His position will make him the lead prosecutor within the Senate trial.
Mr. Raskin, as a graduate of Harvard Legislation College and a former constitutional legislation professor at American College, has turn out to be recognized amongst Home Democrats as a go-to skilled on constitutional legislation. Closely influenced by the liberal politics of his father, Marcus Raskin, who was a famous antiwar activist, Mr. Raskin has displayed a ardour for the Structure and American historical past.
Mr. Raskin serves on distinguished Home committees: the Home Guidelines Committee, which units the phrases of debate within the Home; the Home Judiciary Committee; and the Home Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Except for contributing to the article of impeachment, Mr. Raskin additionally wrote the decision that known as on former Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the twenty fifth Modification to alleviate Mr. Trump of presidential powers.
Mr. Raskin’s involvement as lead impeachment supervisor comes as he’s dealing with the latest lack of his son, Tommy, who died of suicide on New 12 months’s Eve. Only a day after his son’s funeral, Mr. Raskin arrived on the Capitol to certify Electoral School outcomes. By the tip of the day, he had overtly denounced the assault on the Capitol and recalled the phrases of Thomas Paine, for whom his son was named: “Within the monarchies, the king is the legislation. However within the democracies, the legislation shall be king.”
Colorado
Diana DeGette
Consultant Diana DeGette, first elected to the Home in 1996, is not any stranger to impeachment proceedings. In 2019, she presided over the House debate to question Mr. Trump, and now as one of many impeachment managers appointed to prosecute the previous president, she could have the prospect to additional flex her deep expertise within the Home.
“Nobody is above the legislation on this nation, not even former presidents,” Ms. DeGette wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Ms. DeGette acquired her legislation diploma from New York College in 1982. Earlier than her time in Congress, she was a lawyer targeted on civil rights, and he or she later served two phrases as a state consultant in Colorado.
Whereas in Congress, she has made well being coverage and reproductive rights her legislative priorities. She was a co-author of the twenty first Century Cures Act, signed into legislation in 2016, which was supposed to speed up biomedical analysis and product improvement and to advertise effectivity in bringing improvements to the remedy of sufferers.
Consultant David Cicilline, one of many co-authors of the article of impeachment introduced in opposition to Mr. Trump this month, is a member of the Home Judiciary Committee and labored to research Mr. Trump in the course of the impeachment in 2019. He has additionally helped oversee different investigations of Mr. Trump and his advisers, equivalent to an inquiry into the opportunity of marketing campaign finance violations.
Mr. Cicilline leads the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business and Administrative Legislation and has been a staunch watchdog of huge tech corporations like Amazon, Google and Fb. Earlier than his election to Congress, Mr. Cicilline labored as a public defender within the District of Columbia and served two phrases as mayor of Windfall, R.I., and 4 phrases within the Rhode Island Home of Representatives.
In an op-ed for The New York Instances, Mr. Cicilline held Mr. Trump accountable for inciting violence on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and mentioned the impeachment cost was supposed to “defend the integrity of the republic.”
“The president should be held accountable,” Mr. Cicilline wrote. “That may occur solely by impeaching him for a second time and convicting him within the Senate.”
Texas
Joaquin Castro
As a member of the Home Intelligence and Overseas Affairs committees, Consultant Joaquin Castro has made recognized his dedication to seeing the previous president tried and convicted.
Mr. Castro, who voted to question Mr. Trump in 2019, sat in on hearings as a member of the Intelligence committee in the course of the former president’s first impeachment inquiry and through public questioning forward of the drafting of impeachment articles.
A Harvard-educated lawyer, Mr. Castro labored in personal apply earlier than his days in Congress and beforehand served 5 phrases within the Texas Legislature. He led the Hispanic Caucus in the course of the 116th Congress and has been an outspoken opponent of the Trump administration’s immigration insurance policies.
California
Eric Swalwell
Since being elected to Congress in 2012, Consultant Eric Swalwell has helped examine proof in opposition to Mr. Trump in the course of the first impeachment and can now lean on his expertise as a former prosecutor in his position as an impeachment supervisor.
As a member of the Home Intelligence and Judiciary committees, he performed an energetic position within the 2019 impeachment proceedings, serving to draft a subpoena that led to former particular counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s testifying earlier than Congress, which prompted Democrats to name for impeachment.
In his e-book, “Endgame: Contained in the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump,” Mr. Swalwell chronicled his private account of Mr. Trump’s impeachment. Exterior of impeachment, Mr. Swalwell has steadily criticized Mr. Trump’s management, equivalent to his method to local weather change as wildfires ravaged components of California final yr.
Mr. Swalwell attended legislation faculty on the College of Maryland and returned to California to work as a prosecutor within the Alameda County district legal professional’s workplace. He briefly ran for president in 2019 earlier than dropping out of the race to hunt a fifth time period in Congress.
On Monday, Mr. Swalwell conveyed a sobering tone as he posted a photo on Twitter of Democrats delivering the article of impeachment to the Senate.
“My prayer for our nation is that nobody ever walks this path once more,” he wrote.
California
Ted Lieu
On Jan. 6, hours after the Capitol assault that resulted in 5 deaths, Consultant Ted Lieu had three options for a way politicians ought to transfer ahead after certifying the Electoral School outcomes: Impeach Mr. Trump, invoke the twenty fifth Modification or have Mr. Trump resign.
“Congress can not simply go house like nothing occurred,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Lieu, who drafted the article together with Mr. Cicilline and Mr. Raskin, has been unrelenting in his criticism of Mr. Trump, usually calling out the president on Twitter, making Mr. Lieu’s account a well-liked attraction for Democrats.
His appointment as an impeachment supervisor comes after his election to the Home in 2014. He serves on the Home Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Overseas Affairs.
Earlier than his election to Congress, he studied pc science and political science at Stanford College and graduated with a legislation diploma from Georgetown College. He later joined the Air Drive and served within the Choose Advocate Common’s Corps. He at present serves as a colonel within the reserves.
Mr. Lieu is a former member of the California State Meeting and the State Senate.
Virgin Islands
Stacey Plaskett
Though Delegate Stacey Plaskett couldn’t vote to question Mr. Trump, she is going to now have the ability to make the case in opposition to him in his Senate trial in her position as an impeachment supervisor. (As a result of she represents a U.S. territory, Ms. Plaskett shouldn’t be permitted to solid votes on the Home ground.)
Earlier than being elected to Congress, she served as an assistant district legal professional within the Bronx and a political appointee to the Justice Division.
Ms. Plaskett was born in Brooklyn to oldsters from the Virgin Islands and graduated from American College’s Washington School of Legislation. After dwelling in New York and Washington, she moved to the Virgin Islands and labored within the personal sector.
In response to being named an impeachment supervisor, Ms. Plaskett mentioned she was “honored” and “humbled” to be given the accountability.
“Donald J. Trump has been and continues to be a transparent and current hazard to our republic, to our Structure, and to the individuals of this nation,” she mentioned in a press release on Jan. 12. “I’ll do my obligation and defend our blessed nation.”
Colorado
Joe Neguse
Elected to the Home in 2018, Consultant Joe Neguse is the youngest and has the shortest tenure of the 9 members chosen to prosecute Mr. Trump.
In 2019, shortly after his election to Congress, he supported Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. In a press release about his appointment as an impeachment supervisor, Mr. Neguse mentioned that Mr. Trump’s perpetuation of “dangerous misinformation concerning the integrity of election outcomes” had contributed to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Mr. Neguse serves as a member of the Home Judiciary Committee and the Home’s Progressive Caucus.
Mr. Neguse’s dad and mom fled Eritrea virtually 4 many years in the past and got here to the USA as refugees. They finally settled in Colorado to boost Mr. Neguse and his sister. Mr. Neguse is a graduate of the College of Colorado Legislation College and served on the college’s Board of Regents. He later led the state’s shopper safety company.
Pennsylvania
Madeleine Dean
A proponent of the primary impeachment inquiry in opposition to Mr. Trump, Consultant Madeleine Dean was fast to endorse a second impeachment after she and her colleagues had holed up within the Home gallery on Jan. 6 as insurrectionists threatened to invade the Home chamber.
Ms. Dean is serving her second time period within the Home and is a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Earlier than her time in Congress, she served within the Pennsylvania Home of Representatives and earned a legislation diploma from Widener College. After opening a non-public apply, she went on to work as an assistant professor at La Salle College, the place she taught writing and ethics.
On Monday, she wrote on Twitter that bringing forth the article of impeachment in opposition to Mr. Trump would assist the nation heal after the Capitol riot.
“That’s what that is about — therapeutic the wound of this rebellion and holding the previous President accountable for his actions,” she wrote.
Reporting was contributed by Sheryl Homosexual Stolberg, Zach Montague, Emily Cochrane and Aishvarya Kavi.