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NEWS DECEMBER 9, 2019 ¦ 11

Meet the Constitutional Law Scholars Who
Will Help the House Figure Out Impeachment

By Jacqueline Thomsen

The House Judiciary Committee has revealed the
four constitutional law scholars who will kick
off that panel’s handling of the House’s impeach-
ment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Stanford Law School’s Pamela Karlan, Harvard
Law School’s Noah Feldman, Michael Gerhardt from
the University of North Carolina School of Law, and
Jonathan Turley, of the George Washington Univer-
sity Law School, will all be testifying at Wednesday’s
hearing.
The hearing is titled “The Impeachment Inquiry
into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional
Grounds for Presidential Impeachment.”
Several of the witnesses are no stranger to con-
gressional testimony, as they have played the role of
expert voices during prior hearings on Capitol Hill.
However, the stakes are sure to be demonstrably
higher Wednesday, in the midst of an impeachment
proceeding that has already proven to be conten-
tious and highly partisan. Stanford Law’s Pam Karlan.
Here’s what you need to know about each of the Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
witnesses who will help lay the groundwork for the
next phase of the House’s impeachment inquiry. Karlan was also a law clerk for Justice Harry
Blackmun, and previously taught at the University
of Virginia School of Law.

>> Pamela Karlan: Karlan is a well-known name >> Noah Feldman: Feldman is a professor of
in liberal legal circles. She’s currently serving as the constitutional law at Harvard and a columnist for
chair of the board of directors for the left-leaning BloombergViews, where he has weighed in on im-
American Constitution Society, and was the deputy
assistant attorney general for voting rights at the Jus- peachment.
tice Department during the Obama administration. In a column last month, the professor warned
Karlan has also argued before the U.S. Supreme House Democrats against “allowing too much le-
Court several times, and is the co-founder of Stan- gal talk to obfuscate the fundamental wrongness
ford Law School’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. of Trump’s conduct: using the might of his of-
She is perhaps the least vocal about this current fice to pressure a foreign country to destroy the
impeachment inquiry of all the witnesses on the candidate he thought most likely to threaten his
panel, as it doesn’t seem that Karlan has authored re-election.”
any columns outlining her stance on the inquiry or He specifically urged Democrats to stay away from
made any notable appearances about the proceed- “legalism” during the public proceedings, or feeling
ings so far.
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