After Monday’s commentary, “If only we COULD court-martial President Biden,” we received replies from readers essentially asking, “Hey, why can’t we?” Since Biden is Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, they reasoned, he must be a member of our military, and we should be able to court-martial him. If only!

As the Constitution makes clear, the President of the United States is considered to be a civilian, not a member of the military. Yes, he commands the military, but he is “over” the military, not “of” the military. So he is subject to civilian courts, not military courts. It was important to the framers of the Constitution not to have the military itself in control of the government.

Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution specifies that the President (also the Vice President) shall be removed from office by impeachment and conviction for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The President is not subject to court-martial or any other military discipline, much as we might like to see him get thrown in the brig and the door clanged shut.

There’s more information at the link, under the heading, “The Commander-in-Chief is a Civilian Officer.”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/the-president-as-commander-of-the-armed-forces

By the way, Col. Kemp is a great friend of mine; I’ve been with him in Israel many times. He was Britain’s attache’ to the Israeli Defense Forces. Being British, he might not have the familiarity with our Constitution to know an American President must be tried as a civilian. Personally, in this situation, with the way Biden has misused and humiliated our military, it would be gratifying to see him “dishonorably discharged” from the Oval Office.

Here are a few more letters we received from readers who are as sickened as we are by what is happening.

From Morris S:

As a military Army infantry officer for 21 years that served two tours in Vietnam and one year in Africa, I am totally shocked, mad, hurt, embarrassed and sad for America by the actions or inactions by our supposed Commander-in-Chief. His total lack of leadership and understanding of what he is doing/has done to our country and the free world is absolutely dumbfounding!!!. I am especially sad for the Afghan people and the families of Afghans and Americans who have lost love ones fighting for freedom. The most precious thing in the world. I am one of the lucky ones.

From Carl S:

As a veteran, I'm beyond disgusted! The words I have for the best of the Democrats are not printable on this site. If we had a CIC and not a placeholder, the Embassy would be leveled and our jamming capability employed, and [we’d] open Baghram Air Base with both carrier groups launching a few hundred sorties a day to keep the Inbreds hunkered behind their rocks.

From Sharon:

Thank you for expressing everything that is in the hearts of true Americans. What a total disaster and disgrace this is, and, meanwhile, how many other things are being ignored while this horror is going on? This administration is a disaster for our country. Bring back America and our freedoms and our compassion and our strength. We have always been the greatest country in the World.