by: Emily Cervarich and Victoria Holmes

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) Former President Donald Trumps second impeachment trial began in the Senate Tuesday afternoon. It comes just weeks after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and the siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump was impeached by the House on Jan. 13 on a single charge of inciting insurrection. It focused on a speech the former president made to supporters shortly before the D.C. riot, where five people, including a police officer, died in the chaos.

Now, Democratic House lawmakers will serve as prosecutors, in hopes to persuade Senate members to formally convict the former president. If successful, lawmakers could choose to ban Trump from ever holding public office again. A two-thirds majority out of the 100-member Senate is needed to convict Trump. This means 17 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats in the conviction.

In this weeks episode of What The Politics?!, we follow and discuss the former presidents second impeachment trial. We speak with a law and First Amendment expert about the rights laid out in the First Amendment and what they really break down to.

We will also explore how social media has played a role in polarization in regards to free speech. As we follow the second impeachment trial, we will examine the points of both legal teams and how they pertain to the First Amendment to find out if there is truly a solid argument for the prosecution.

Emily and Victoria are joined by Clay Calvert, J.D., Ph.D.. He is a member of both the State Bar of California and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, specializing in First Amendment Law. Calvert is the Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication and Director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida.

As director, he has filed as counsel of record multiple friend-of-the-court briefs with the United States Supreme Court in cases such as Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, Elonis v. United States, and Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach. Calvert received his J.D. with Great Distinction from the University of Pacifics McGeorge School of Law, and then earned a Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University. Calvert has authored and co-authored over 150 law journal articles on topics related to freedom of expression and the first amendment.

In April of 2017, Calvert presented a talk at TEDxUF called Catching Cops on Camera: A Gray Area. Professor Calvert is also one of the co-author of the market-leading undergraduate media law textbook, Mass Media Law, 20th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2018). Calverts most notable work is Voyeur Nation (Westview, 2000).

Biography, publications, works, by Clay Calvert: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/staff/clay-calvert/

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What The Politics?! Episode 21: Analyzing the First Amendment - WNCT