Legal scholars warn against Mayorkas impeachment

A group of legal scholars issued an open letter to House GOP leaders Wednesday conveying their concerns with the impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing his impeachment would be "utterly unjustified as a matter of constitutional law."

In the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), over two dozen legal scholars claimed House Republicans' pursuit of an impeachment does not meet the constitutional threshold for impeachment.

"Their proposed grounds for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas are the stuff of ordinary (albeit impassioned) policy disagreement in the field of immigration enforcement," the letter stated.

"If allegations like this were sufficient to justify impeachment, the separation of powers would be permanently destabilized. It is telling that there is absolutely no historical precedent for the impeachment charges that House Republicans have articulated."

House Republicans are expected to begin a series of impeachment hearings against Mayorkas on Wednesday to investigate allegations the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary displayed a "dereliction of duty" in his handling of the border.

The pushback against Mayorkas has built over the past year among House GOP members amid an influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border. Two House members introduced resolutions to boot Mayorkas from the job in the past year, but were never voted on.

The legal scholars argued the framers of the Constitution made a "conscious choice" to not designate impeachment "for mere 'maladministration,'" which they describe as incompetence, bad judgement or poor policy. They noted impeachment is supposed to be only justified "by truly extraordinary misconduct."

"Simply put, the Constitution forbids impeachment based on policy disagreements between the House and the Executive Branch, no matter how intense or high stakes those differences of opinion," the scholars wrote. "Yet that is exactly what House Republicans appear poised to undertake."

Acknowledging they have varying views on the "wisdom and success" of Mayorkas's work on immigration policed, the legal scholars said they can agree an impeachment based on the arguments set forth by House Republicans would be a "stark departure" from the Constitution.

The group of legal scholars included Donald Ayer, who served as U.S. deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, and Stuart Gerson, who served as acting United States attorney general during the Clinton administration 1993. Gerson also previously served in the Justice Department under Bush. The others behind the letter are legal or political sciences professors and some are still attorneys themselves.

A day before the letter was published, Jonathan Turley, a conservative commentator and legal scholar, said the House GOP does not have sufficient evidence for impeaching Mayorkas.