![]() ![]() Like so many others with clinical depression, the catastrophe deepened his symptoms. Tommy was a second-year student at Harvard Law School when Covid began. In the state legislature, Raskin helped outlaw the death penalty and legalize same-sex marriage. Jamie Raskin taught constitutional law then ran for the Maryland senate, with Tommy, then 10, his first campaign aide. When Raskin was the only one acquitted, he famously demanded a retrial. In 1968, Marcus Raskin was indicted with William Sloane Coffin, Dr Benjamin Spock and others for conspiracy to aid resistance to the draft. His grandfather, Marcus Raskin, was one of the earliest opponents of the Vietnam war when he worked in the Kennedy White House. His maternal great-grandfather was the first Jew elected to the Minnesota legislature. Tommy Raskin was the fourth generation in a great liberal family. ![]() Raskin’s astonishing story of tragedy and redemption, of “despair and survival”, depended entirely on all the “good and compassionate people” like Tommy, “the non-narcissists, the feisty, life-size human beings who hate bullying and fascism naturally – people just the right size for a democracy … where we are all created equal”. “I’m not going to lose my son at the end of 2020 and lose my country and my republic in 2021,” he told CNN, less than three weeks after Tommy’s death. He found “salvation and sustenance … a pathway back to the land of the living”. Instead of succumbing to unfathomable grief over the death of his son, Raskin seized a lifeline thrown by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and agreed to lead the effort to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the riot which might have derailed the peaceful transition of power. This is where the superhuman part came in. Never had he felt “so equidistant … between the increasingly unrecognizable place called life and the suddenly intimate and expanding jurisdiction called death”. Raskin suffered “a violent and comprehensive shock to the foundations”. Six days later, a vicious mob invaded Raskin’s workplace, the cradle of democracy, leaving several dead and injuring 140 police officers. On 31 December, his beautiful, brilliant, charismatic 25-year-old son, Tommy, took his own life. When 2020 began, he had no inkling that just 12 months later his country and his family would face “two impossible traumas”. "This was the most serious presidential crime in the history of the United States of America.Jamie Raskin is a fine writer, a Democratic congressman, a constitutional scholar and a deeply loving father. "I don't think anybody would seriously argue that we should establish a precedent where every President on the way out the door has two weeks or three weeks or four weeks to try to incite an armed insurrection against the union or organize a coup against the union and if it succeeds, he becomes a dictator and if it fails, he's not subject to impeachment or conviction because we want to let bygones be bygones," Raskin said. Raskin defended impeaching Trump so close to the end of the president's term. The trial may coincide with the first days of President-elect Joe Biden's tenure following his inauguration January 20. Democrats led the effort though 10 Republicans also voted to impeach Trump with incitement to insurrection, teeing up a Senate trial. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump last week, following the recent deadly violence at the U.S. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) who added: "So proud of him." Proud to serve alongside was described as a "hero" by Rep. "Proud to serve alongside Joe Neguse (D-CO) said: "America is fortunate to have such a strong and resilient defender of our democracy leading us toward holding Trump accountable. "America is fortunate to have such a strong and resilient defender of our democracy leading us toward holding Trump accountable," Lee tweeted. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) both said America is "fortunate" to have Raskin leading the charge. Thank you for sharing your strength, your patriotism, and your abiding sense of justice. ![]() my family and families across America are holding you, Sarah, and your entire family in our hearts during this difficult time.
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