Conservatives are emphatically opposed to the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

Such impeachment is absolutely unconstitutional. The Constitution’s impeachment clause is unambiguous and applies only to the President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States. Nowhere does the Constitution provide for impeachment of non-office holders, or former presidents. Additionally, the Constitution requires the Chief Justice to preside in presidential impeachments. Yet, the Chief Justice will not preside over this impeachment, making the proceedings constitutionally invalid for even an additional reason.

It is evident, however, that this effort is not about complying with the Constitution, but rather an effort to contort the process to meet a partisan political end: to bar Trump from ever seeking public office again, to de-legitimize the accomplishments of his presidency, and to publicly shame the 74 million Americans who voted for him.

While impeachment is a political process, it has throughout our history been used sparingly and soberly as a tool of last resort. Democrats, in utilizing the process not once, but twice – first, to chase later-debunked claims of election interference and now, to punish a non-office holder with baseless claims of incitement – have transformed the impeachment process from somber-minded deliberation into cheap political theater. Our politics will suffer because of it.

We urge Democrats to abandon this pointless impeachment process that will serve only to further their partisan goals, and to further divide an already deeply divided nation. And we ask every Republican senator to vote against conviction – not only because Trump’s actions fail to meet the constitutional standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” but to publicly stand against this overtly political stunt masquerading as a principled constitutional practice.

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