The Senate's farcical impeachment trial of former president Trump is set to begin on February 9.  Farcical or not, Trump is entitled to be represented by the attorney of his choice — a right inherent in every American called upon to face a judicial body in America.  The Democrat party, however, no longer recognizes that right for Trump or anyone associated with him.  Activists are working to destroy completely the two new attorneys who have stepped up to defend Trump.

Over the weekend, news broke that the attorneys Trump had lined up for his impeachment trial had quit.  The problem was apparently over strategy:

CNN reported a person familiar with the departures as saying that the former president wanted the lawyers representing him to focus on his allegations of mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him.

The legal team reportedly intended to focus on the legality of convicting a president after they have left office.

Both sides make sense.  As an attorney, if I have a clear shot at a procedural dismissal, I'm taking it.  Forty-five Republican senators have already announced that they believe it's unconstitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for a private citizen.

The procedural argument is pretty clear, given that the Constitution holds that the Senate's authority "in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office" (Art. I, Sec. 3).  Trump is already removed by operation of his having vacated the office so that Biden could enter.  What we're seeing instead is a bill of attainder — namely, a legislative act deliberately targeting a private citizen.  Article I, Sec. 9 states clearly that "[n]o Bill of Attainder ... shall be passed."

For his part, Trump, like all defendants who know themselves to be innocent, wants to make his case in court.  Getting dismissed on procedural grounds leaves a cloud over his head.  He understands that this is the last chance to get facts about election fraud before the American people.  The Democrats are memory-holing the facts and saying any challenge to the election is seditious.  It's now or never.

On Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump's office sent out an email notifying the world that he had hired new counsel for the impeachment: David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr.

Schoen represented Roger Stone.  He also agrees with many Americans that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself.  Schoen presumably has some insight into this matter because he represented Epstein shortly before Epstein was found hanged in his cell.

Bruce Castor's fame (at least for the left) rests on the fact that, in 2005, he did not prosecute Bill Cosby.  Nowadays BLM means that all prosecutors would make the same choice.  Go after a black man for rape?  Never!  Systemic racism.

Both men have had long and successful careers.  Do you know how you can tell that they're good at what they do and have the potential to be effective?  Democrats have gone after them, trying to destroy them personally and professionally in a way never seen in America.  (Hat tip: The Gateway Pundit.)

2/ As a result, it is reported that Boston College Law School, Columbia University Law School, Washington & Lee University are already facing calls from wealthy Democratic alumni to withdraw Schoen and Castor's law degrees.

— Alexander Muse (@amuse) January 31, 2021

4/ The Scottish Rite is also under pressure to expel Castor, a 33rd Degree Mason, from their ranks. Even his church, Abington Presbyterian Church, is being asked to ex-communicate the lawyer.

— Alexander Muse (@amuse) January 31, 2021

6/ Every American deserves a vigorous and robust defense. The effort by Democrats and the disgraced Lincoln Project is an assault on our Democracy.

— Alexander Muse (@amuse) January 31, 2021

8/ IRONY ALERT: The president Democrats called a racist and a Nazi is being represented by a Democratic Jewish civil rights lawyer from Alabama who is on the board of the ACLU? There are actually honorable Democrats...

— Alexander Muse (@amuse) February 1, 2021

I attended law school in Texas, back when the school was fairly conservative.  A lot of my first-year classmates in Criminal Law found repugnant the idea that loathsome people, including people who were indubitably guilty of heinous crimes, deserved a lawyer.

I've never forgotten what my professor's response was to that attitude: no one should ever have to face the vast power of the government, which ultimately functions as judge, jury, and executioner, and that handles criminal matters day in and day out, without having a friend at his side.

Back in the day, that was a liberal viewpoint.  It was also then, and still is now, absolutely correct.  When facing the Senate, President Trump, like every other citizen, deserves a friend at his side.  For Americans to penalize those people willing to step up and help the unloved, unpopular, or even the evil (which is how Democrats view Trump) is to destroy one of the most important bulwarks of a free, civil society.