HERE ARE MY RANKINGS: The impeachment managers,
selected by House Speaker Nancy PelosiEXCELLENT:
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland will serve as the lead impeachment manager. He is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform where he also serves as
chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He previously served in the Maryland State Senate and
taught constitutional law at American University's Washington College of Law for more than a quarter century. Raskin also co-wrote the single article of impeachment against Trump.
Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island serves on the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, and is
chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. Now in his sixth term, Cicilline was previously a two-term mayor of Providence, his state's capital, and a
public defender in the District of Columbia.
VERY GOOD:
Rep. Ted Lieu of California is also a member of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees and is a former active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he
served as a prosecutor in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He is currently a colonel in the Reserves. The fourth-term congressman also is whip of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and a vice-chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. Lieu is reported to have raised the issue of impeaching Trump as the insurrection was still taking place.
Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands sits on the House Ways and Means, Budget and Agriculture committees. The Brooklyn-born Plaskett was a
prosecutor in the Bronx District Attorney's office and served as senior counsel at the U.S. Justice Department. As a non-voting delegate to the House, Plaskett could not vote to impeach Trump, but told The Associated Press that her role as an impeachment manager will resonate for residents of American territories. She is also was a
former student of lead impeachment manager Raskin.
ACCEPTABLE:
Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado has served in the House since 1997. She is a member of the Natural Resources Committee as well as the Energy and Commerce Committee. On the latter, she serves as the
chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Previously DeGette served in the Colorado State House and was a
civil rights attorney.Rep. Eric Swalwell of California is a member of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees and is chair of the Subcommittee on Intelligence Modernization and Readiness. He is also an outspoken critic of Trump. Swalwell ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination last cycle. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Maryland and formerly served as a
prosecutor in California's Alameda County District Attorney's office. (I noticed on Facebook that a high school friend and former co-youth soccer coach friend of mine, who is also a member of this unit, has a public photo with him. I'll have to ask next time I see him.)
Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado is in his second term and serves on the Natural Resources, Climate Crisis and Judiciary committees. He is also the first African American to be elected to Congress from Colorado. Prior to serving in Congress, Neguse was appointed by former Gov. John Hickenlooper to his Cabinet as
executive director of Colorado's consumer protection agency. At 36, he is the youngest member of the House impeachment manager team.
NOT SO GOOD
Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas is in his fifth term in Congress and serves on the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Education and Labor committees. Prior to serving in Congress Castro served five terms in the Texas legislature. The San Antonio Democrat is a second- generation Mexican American who studied at Stanford University and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. His identical twin brother, Julin Castro, is a former Democratic presidential candidate and previously served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration.
NO GRADE:
Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania is in her second term in Congress and serves on the Judiciary Committee. Prior to that she served in the Pennsylvania legislature and before that was an attorney in private practice. She also is from the
same Pennsylvania county as Bruce Castor, a member of
Trump's defense team. Prior to her career in public service, Dean spent a decade teaching in the English Department at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, according to her
congressional biography.
.... For me, Swalwell has eliminated himself for consideration for future Presidential runs. Listening to Raskin vs Swalwell is too big a gulf. We can do better than Swalwell, just based on
these hearings this
trial.
