There is a Republican talking point that the Congress and government should forego impeachment and possible criminal prosecution of outgoing President Donald Trump in favor of what some say is "unity."

Is it possible to have unity without justice after the insurrection that Trump promoted and incited?

The conduct, it is argued, that we should overlook, is the insurrection Trump incited Wednesday, January 6th, shouting to a mob he invited to DC.

Trump insisted his maddened followers stop the pro forma confirmation on January 6, making former VP Joe Biden, the President elect.

On January 6, 2021, Trump harangued the crowd he summoned to DC, stirring them to action, telling them, "if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," sounding a call to overthrow the election, to defeat the voter's intent, to render the presidential election a nullity, and to choose Trump instead.

On the evening of January 6th, the Congress secured Capitol Hill against the rioters, resumed its business and rightly confirmed Biden as President; Vice President Pence, whom the rioters threatened to hang, announced the results at about 4 AM, January 7th.

In response to Trump's misconduct, the Congress voted an article of impeachment for inciting the mob to overrun the Hill, to subvert the will of the voters.

The Resolution said Trump incited rioters who "unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts."

The Resolution accused Trump of "threaten[ing] the integrity of the democratic system, interfer[ing] with the peaceful transition of power, and imperil[ing] a coequal branch of Government."

The ten Republicans who voted for impeachment may prove yet to be the bridge to unity to act in the government's best interest.

But is it just to impeach and to prosecute Trump?

John Rawls wrote a tome, discussing what is justice, and concluded, we must consider "justice as fairness."

Our frame of reference for "justice" for autocracy is one person, with everyone else subjects; this is not our nation's frame of reference.

In democracy, the frame of reference is the people, all of us, "we the people."

We require as a nation a concept of justice as a standard by which we may guide a society.

Aristotle had one formulation he considered objectionable, what he called pleonexia, one person seizing what belongs to another including the other man's reward, his public office, denying to another what was the other man's due.

The terms of our association, our social contract, in the Declaration of Independence is that all men are created equal, and in the Constitution, it is, "We the People."

Rawls underscores how, we agreed as a people to "specify certain forms of action as permissible, others as forbidden; and they provide for certain penalties and defenses, and so on, when violations occur."

In our constitution, we agreed on how we handle a Chief Executive who fails the duties of his office.

In our federal crimes, we identified felonious misconduct that should be discouraged and punished.

We have the constitution and law – but Trump acts in disregard – imagines he is above the law.

We have long settled this question.

In 1787, our nation inherited from medieval England the rule that we are "a government of laws, not of men."

When the Magna Charta was signed in 1215, King John guaranteed his obedience to English laws.

Our constitution relies on supremacy over its officers including especially the President.

Our constitution says in the 14th Amendment, section 3, that no officer of the United States shall hold any office under the United States who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Plainly, Trump violated this provision.

In addition, there are crimes, prohibiting travel to riot, to incite, assist or engage in any rebellion or insurrection, and to conspire to incite rebellion or insurrection.

Our constitution sought to insure that the President of the United States, would be under and subject to the constitution and to the law—not a law unto himself.

The President—and the President alone—swears on the Bible (or affirms) that he will "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8).

When a child commits an infraction, parents know to act promptly so that the child understands that misconduct is met with a sanction.

Trump's impeachment must go forward to bar Trump from holding public office.

Trump's crimes must be investigated and prosecuted if sustained by evidence to punish Trump and to deter other public figures who might otherwise follow Trump's traitorous path.