Letters to the Editor: Senate GOP’s message: If a president incites a coup, do it right before Jan. 20

To the editor: Leaving the scene after committing the crime has never been a way of avoiding punishment. (“Senate Republicans overwhelmingly back effort to declare Trump impeachment trial illegal,” Jan. 26)

It appears that convicting former President Trump so he can never hold office again is the only way to hold him accountable for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, but Republican senators are twisting themselves into knots trying to justify doing nothing.

Instead, they should grow a spine and show that no one is above the law.

Millions have risked their lives to protect American values; 17 Republican senators can risk their political futures to do the same.

Irving Weinstein, Ventura

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To the editor: It has been reported that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will not preside over Trump’s upcoming trial in the Senate.

One week ago, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who served on Trump’s defense team in the former president’s first impeachment trial, predicted that Roberts would not preside because the trial of a private citizen by the Senate is probably unconstitutional.

If the chief justice won’t participate in the impeachment process, what does it say about the process? It looks like Democrats are chasing a delusion, just as Trump did when he was trying to overturn the election.

David Waldowski, Laguna Woods

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To the editor: In law school I was taught that one does not easily raise a constitutional issue when there are plenty of other legal and factual issues that need to be resolved first.

Conservative Republicans are making it a practice now to quickly resort to constitutional defenses instead of responding to the substantive and actual issues first. This practice damages our constitutional system since it undermines its importance and significance.

Instead of responding to the actual merits of Trump’s second impeachment, many Republicans are simply exclaiming that trying and convicting the former president would be unconstitutional. They’re saying this even though his improper actions occurred while he was president and should not go without consequences.

This doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t matter to these Republicans as long as they stay on message.

Daniel Luna, West Covina