Last week, the National Constitution Center hosted a timely two-part discussion of impeachment. Part two features current and former members of Congress, including Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which unveiled articles of impeachment against President Trump today. The panelists share their unique insights into what constitutes and impeachable offense and the current impeachment process—giving their candid takes on the facts behind the inquiry, what they think might happen, and how the process and outcome may affect the country as a whole. They also share their views on whether they might vote to impeach the president.
Part one of our impeachment program featured leading constitutional scholars, including NCC Scholar-in-Residence Michael Gerhardt who testified before Congress as an impeachment expert, and you can listen to that episode here.
This event was generously sponsored by the Rodel Foundation.
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Rep. Dwight Evans represents Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South and Center City Philadelphia. He was first elected in a special election in November 2016. Before that, he served as a state representative in Pennsylvania for 36 years. Evans serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and as vice chair of the House Small Business Committee. He is also an at-large member of the executive committee of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, an education and human rights advocate, represents Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District and was elected in 2018. Congresswoman Scanlon previously served as national pro bono counsel at a major U.S. law firm, where she directed and supervised over 600 lawyers in 15 offices in providing more than 50,000 hours of pro bono legal services annually to low-income clients and non-profit organizations. She serves as Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, on the House Rules Committee, and on the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.
Fmr. Rep. Charlie Dent currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to DLA Piper where he provides strategic advice and counsel to clients on the federal, state and local levels on issues ranging from appropriations, healthcare, defense and veterans, homeland security, infrastructure and energy to international investment, trade and commerce. In addition to his role with DLA Piper, Dent is a Political Analyst for CNN, a Visiting Fellow for the University of Pennsylvania, and a Distinguished Advisor for Pew Charitable Trusts. Dent served 7 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
Fmr. Rep. Ryan Costello is the founder of Ryan Costello Strategies, a firm which helps organizations seeking to advance their objectives in the legislative and regulatory policy process before the federal government. Costello also serves as Managing Director of Americans for Carbon Dividends, an organization that advocates on behalf of the Baker-Schultz carbon pricing plan, a market-based solution to aggressively address the climate challenge. Costello previously spent 16 years in public service and private law practice. As a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019, he represented a portion of the Philadelphia suburbs in Pennsylvania’s 6th District, while also serving on the Republican Party’s Whip Team.
Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.”
Additional Resources
- What Does the Constitution Say About Impeachment? We the People podcast episode
This episode was engineered by Greg Scheckler and Kevin Kilbourne and produced by Jackie McDermott.
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TRANSCRIPT: Download the transcript here.
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
