Not an attorney... may be miles off base here:
The Constitution forbids any "bill of attainder". I had to look that one up. It means that no legislature can punish any person or group of people for something they have done in the past. That function belongs to the courts. The Senate and House cannot punish a private citizen.
Donald Trump is now a private citizen.
How is this so-called impeachment not a bill of attainder?
Denton, Have you been drinking? You ordinarily show a disciplined mind. You cannot legally do anything to anyone for what they might do or think with some very specific exceptions. Therefore, every single criminal action against a citizen must be for something he has done in the past. And, indeed, some criminal actions are not subject to a statute of limitations precisely so that people who commit those crimes can be held fully accountable when they are caught. If a president is impeached and removed from office, then he immediately becomes a citizen again and by your above reasoning would then be free and clear in terms of punishment. Similarly, he cannot be punished until he has been convicted and removed from office. The "punishment" available under impeachment is severely constrained by the constitution in comparison to that available in a criminal proceeding against someone because impeachment is designed as a purely political action.
The law is just blind, not stupid. Impeachment is not a criminal proceeding. Impeachment cannot punish as in imprisonment. I would however like to see some legal scholarship applied to treason in time of war by a president which would likely be sequenced as an impeachment, removal from office, indictment on treason charges, trial and conviction followed by execution if so ordered.
