Almost twenty-one years to the day since Bill Clinton was impeached, the House impeached Donald Trump on the counts of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress:

The House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached President Trump, charging him with “high crimes and misdemeanors” and making him only the third president in history to face removal by the Senate.

The passage of the impeachment resolution was expected, and the vote broke down mostly along party lines. The only non-Democrat to vote for both articles of impeachment was independent Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who has distinguished himself in his time in Congress as one of the most consistently principled and serious advocates for constitutional government and liberty. While his Republican colleagues made a point of casting aside any pretense of respect for the Constitution, Amash stood his ground and upheld his oath of office. It is no coincidence that Amash left the Republican Party earlier this year, because he concluded correctly that there was no place in the House GOP for someone who defended limited government and constitutional liberties. That decision was vindicated today.

Rep. Amash has spelled out why the president needed to be impeached, and he has made the case against the president on solid constitutional conservative grounds. Here was his statement on the floor today:

Rep. @justinamash @amashoffice (I-MI): "I rise today in support of these articles of impeachment. I come to this floor not as a Democrat, not as a Republican but as an American who cares deeply about the Constitution, the rule of law, and the rights of the people." pic.twitter.com/FoY36Ig5tQ

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 18, 2019

“Impeachment is about maintaining the integrity of the office of the presidency,” Amash said. The current occupant of the office has clearly compromised its integrity, and he has given us every reason to believe he will continue to do so as long as he is president. Amash went on to say, “His actions reflect precisely the type of conduct the Framers of the Constitution intended to remedy through the power of impeachment, and it is our duty to impeach him.” Amash makes a clear and powerful case that it is the president’s corrupt use of the powers of his office for his own gain that has violated the public trust and necessitates his impeachment.

When Clinton was impeached, I remember how many Republican members of the House delivered very earnest speeches about the importance of the rule of law. No one was above the law, they said, and the president couldn’t be trusted to faithfully execute the laws of the land when he was violating them. The arguments they made then were valid and still are, but House Republicans don’t even pretend to care about the rule of law anymore. Like phony fiscal conservatives who complain about excessive spending only when they are out of power, House Republicans talk a lot about their devotion to the Constitution but routinely ignore and trample on it when it matters. We see that in this vote, and we saw it earlier this year in their shameful hostility to the resolution aimed at ending illegal U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen. Republican politicians employ constitutionalist rhetoric all the time, but in practice they are reliable enablers of executive power grabs and abuses of power. The House GOP’s abject failure today does not surprise me at all. When confronted with clear presidential abuse of power, they have made preposterous excuses and generally made a spectacle of themselves. Amash’s votes are a rebuke to the unprincipled cowardice of the House Republicans, and he should be applauded for his integrity and commitment to defending the Constitution.