As expected, there was a floor debate on the Republican resolution to authorize an impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden. As expected, the back and forth between the parties was predictable: GOP members pretended they had incriminating evidence, and Democrats reminded them that no such evidence exists in reality.
But there was one unscripted comment that stood out for me, and it was uttered on the House floor by Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina:
“The evidence, I think, as things come out, will finally show what the trail is, and the fact that there are consequences. You cannot just not say you are innocent and not have to prove it. So I fully support this inquiry.”
As the video clip of the GOP congressman’s comments showed, Norman was looking across the aisle, as if he were trying to convince Democratic members of how right he was.
The trouble, of course, is that the South Carolinian flubbed the basics on burdens of proof.
To hear Norman tell it, Biden says he’s innocent, but that’s not good enough — because, according to the far-right congressman, the Democrat has to “prove“ he’s innocent.
For now, let’s put aside the inconvenient fact that, for all intents and purposes, the president has already demonstrated his innocence by cooperating with assorted inquiries, and providing investigators with documents and records, each of which confirm Biden didn’t do what Republicans have accused him of doing.
Let’s instead remind the GOP lawmaker how the presumption of innocence works in the United States.
In our system, if someone is accused of wrongdoing, it’s not incumbent on them to prove their innocence. Rather, it’s up to the accusers to make their case against their suspect. It’s a bedrock principle of our entire system.
That said, the fact that Norman got this wrong helps shed some light on his party’s evidence-free impeachment crusade: It appears some Republicans expect Biden to somehow come up with even more evidence of his innocence, rather than expecting the GOP to produce evidence of wrongdoing.
If Norman’s name sounds at all familiar, it was on Jan. 17, 2021 — 11 days after the attack on the Capitol, and three days before Biden’s presidential inauguration — when Norman reached out to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in apparent desperation.
“Mark, in seeing what’s happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !!” the congressman texted. “Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!”
(He obviously misspelled “martial” law.)
When the messages came to light, Tom Nichols explained in The Atlantic, “This is a member of the U.S. Congress insisting, in a jumble of exclamation points and capital letters, that a sitting president call out the men and women of the United States military to nullify an election and prevent, by force of arms, the constitutional transfer of power. This is sedition, and it is madness.”
Nearly three years later, we can apparently add to the list of constitutional principles the Republican congressman ought to understand, but doesn’t.
