"Expect delays on Rt 237 during this mornings rush hour, elks are crossing"
Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz (Screenshot)
Alan Dershowitz says Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who announced the House January 6 Subcommittee’s criminal referrals on Monday, knows they’re unconstitutional – because he studied under the iconic, liberal constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law.
In an interview on Monday night’s “Hannity,” Prof. Dershowitz was asked by Fox News’ Pete Hegseth if the committee's members knew their actions were unconstitutional.
Not only did they know, but they were even committing the types of unconstitutional acts that Democrats should be railing against, Dershowitz answered.
Unfortunately, they think they can do anything they want in order to “Get Trump,” Dershowitz said:
“Oh, of course. Jamie Raskin was my student.
“I defended his father against Georgia, relating to the Vietnam War. He's a professor of constitutional law. He knows Congress doesn't have this power to refer.
“The McCarthy Committee did that, too, in the 1950s. They would specify individuals and call on the prosecutors to go after them. And, we civil libertarians strongly objected to that.
“Where are the voices of the Democratic civil libertarians, who should be railing against Congress going after people and naming names and being specific and making referrals in violation of three provisions of the Constitution?
“But, when it comes to ‘Get Trump,’ many leftist Democrat civil libertarians have forgotten about the Constitution – and the ends justify the means.”
The subcommittee’s unprecedented actions violate three specific provisions of the Constitution – and that’s “a very dangerous thing,” Dershowitz warned:
“It's never been done before, because it's unconstitutional. It violates three provisions of the Constitution.
“Article One says that the power of Congress is limited to performing a legislative function. This is not a legislative function. Making a referral to Congress has nothing to do with legislation.
“Second, there’s the bill of obtained prohibition, as well, which says that Congress doesn't have the power to specify and name people for prosecution. The spirit of that provision was also violated.
“And finally, this is the 14th Amendment, which does say that Congress does have some power – when it comes to the kind of insurrection that led to the Civil War – but, that's a very limited power.
“And so, this is a very dangerous thing. It's not just irrelevant.”
Dershowitz called on the Justice Department to do more than just ignore the subcommittee’s criminal referrals:
“The Justice Department will toss this into the wastebasket after writing a polite letter to the Committee. They shouldn’t do that.
“They should reject it and they should denounce the Committee for violating the Separation of Powers and our system of Checks and Balances.”
What’s more, any lawyer who behaved like the committee in a court of law - misrepresenting facts and denying Due Process – would be sanctioned, Dershowitz said:
“We know there was editing because, when they presented the president's speech on January 6, they omitted the words, specifically, ‘Peacefully and patriotically.’ You don't do that.
“If a lawyer ever did that in a court of law, the lawyer would be sanctioned. But, the idea that Congress can pick and choose, without any cross-examination or dissenting view, suggests that this was, as President Trump said, a kangaroo committee.
“I don’t think anybody should pay attention to its predetermined conclusions.”
