Moscow Mitch McConnell
If the House impeaches Trump, Mitch McConnell’s Senate
can simply ignore it
2019/09/27
A central stumbling block in the impeachment effort:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
There exist Senate rules of procedure that dictate how
impeachment trials should be run. As Michael Dorf,
Robert S. Stevens professor of law at Cornell Law School,
put it in an email to The Post, the rules include a “a lot of ‘shall’
language” — language that gives McConnell and the Republican
majority a lot of flexibility in how they conduct a trial.
Or whether they conduct a trial at all -
"The question “is not legal but political."
"The real issue is whether McConnell could get away with this."
- Louis Michael Seidman, Carmack Waterhouse professor of
constitutional law at Georgetown Law
It’s easy to imagine McConnell simply declaring the entire thing to be
unjustified, unfair and unnecessary, and either skipping a trial or moving
quickly to a vote.
“There’s nothing ‘mandating’ a trial if by that you mean that
no external power (the Supreme Court) is going to enforce the
mandate,” Seidman wrote. Once the articles of impeachment
leave the House, the rest is up to McConnell.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...mitch-mcconnells-senate-can-simply-ignore-it/
How Mitch McConnell could give impeachment the Merrick Garland treatment
The House is empowered to impeach a president and
the Senate is empowered to conduct a trial. But clarity
from America’s founders stops there.
(Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge said she’s bracing
for McConnell to hit the brakes — just like he did with
the Garland nomination)
9/28/2019
It’s on track to be the trial of the century:
President Donald Trump fighting to keep his job
before a jury of 100 senators.
It also could never happen.
Sure, it would be an unprecedented move in U.S. history
for Republican leader Mitch McConnell to table Trump
impeachment proceedings without allowing any significant
debate or a vote to convict a president from his own party,
thereby removing him from office. But it’d be well within
his power.
“Up to the Senate,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
said in an email. “No way to force them to act.”
“The Senate makes the decision,” agreed Don Ritchie,
the retired Senate historian.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/28/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-007689
9/26/2019
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it
“laughable to think this is anywhere close to an impeachable
offense.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...lit-between-republicans-white-house-insiders/
If the House impeaches Trump, Mitch McConnell’s Senate
can simply ignore it
2019/09/27
A central stumbling block in the impeachment effort:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
There exist Senate rules of procedure that dictate how
impeachment trials should be run. As Michael Dorf,
Robert S. Stevens professor of law at Cornell Law School,
put it in an email to The Post, the rules include a “a lot of ‘shall’
language” — language that gives McConnell and the Republican
majority a lot of flexibility in how they conduct a trial.
Or whether they conduct a trial at all -
"The question “is not legal but political."
"The real issue is whether McConnell could get away with this."
- Louis Michael Seidman, Carmack Waterhouse professor of
constitutional law at Georgetown Law
It’s easy to imagine McConnell simply declaring the entire thing to be
unjustified, unfair and unnecessary, and either skipping a trial or moving
quickly to a vote.
“There’s nothing ‘mandating’ a trial if by that you mean that
no external power (the Supreme Court) is going to enforce the
mandate,” Seidman wrote. Once the articles of impeachment
leave the House, the rest is up to McConnell.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...mitch-mcconnells-senate-can-simply-ignore-it/
How Mitch McConnell could give impeachment the Merrick Garland treatment
The House is empowered to impeach a president and
the Senate is empowered to conduct a trial. But clarity
from America’s founders stops there.
(Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge said she’s bracing
for McConnell to hit the brakes — just like he did with
the Garland nomination)
9/28/2019
It’s on track to be the trial of the century:
President Donald Trump fighting to keep his job
before a jury of 100 senators.
It also could never happen.
Sure, it would be an unprecedented move in U.S. history
for Republican leader Mitch McConnell to table Trump
impeachment proceedings without allowing any significant
debate or a vote to convict a president from his own party,
thereby removing him from office. But it’d be well within
his power.
“Up to the Senate,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
said in an email. “No way to force them to act.”
“The Senate makes the decision,” agreed Don Ritchie,
the retired Senate historian.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/28/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-007689
9/26/2019
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it
“laughable to think this is anywhere close to an impeachable
offense.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...lit-between-republicans-white-house-insiders/
