Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Utah Senator Mike Lee penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal blasting Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for planning to “table” the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas.
From WSJ:
When House Speaker Mike Johnson sends the Senate the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is obligated to prepare for a trial. Instead Mr. Schumer plans to offer a motion to table the articles of impeachment by majority vote.
The Constitution, Senate rules and precedent are clear: The Senate has an obligation to vote on articles of impeachment. In the nation’s history, there have been 21 instances in which the House has sent articles of impeachment to the Senate. In three of those cases, the official who was impeached had left office, so the Senate didn’t proceed. In the other 18 cases—including Donald Trump’s second impeachment, which the House delivered after his term ended—the Senate conducted a trial and senators ultimately voted guilty or not guilty. That’s the process demanded by the Constitution and clearly laid out in the Senate rules.
During its ordinary business, the Senate routinely takes up motions to table legislation and other matters. But when sitting as a court of impeachment, the chamber operates under special rules that resemble a court’s process to preserve justice, protect the accused person’s due-process rights, and ultimately render judgment on the charges. The impeachment rules have no provision for a motion to table.
Republicans have respected this process. We were in the majority during President Trump’s first impeachment, in 2020. We fulfilled our constitutional duty and held a full trial on the floor. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Senate Democrats are trying to destroy yet another precedent and further politicize the impeachment process. They want to avoid an uncomfortable election-year discussion about President Biden’s biggest failure: the U.S. southern border invasion. Democrats will shatter another norm and set a dangerous precedent that they’re going to regret.
Why would they do it? Because Mr. Schumer wants to prevent the House impeachment managers from presenting evidence of the disaster that has unfolded on the southern border because Mr. Mayorkas refuses to follow the law. He wants to avoid news coverage of how bad the border crisis is.
Full op-ed over at The Wall Street Journal:
Schumer’s plan to “table” the Mayorkas impeachment violates the chamber’s rules as well as the Constitution, writes @SenTedCruz and @SenMikeLee https://t.co/yOkZ2ef9qF
— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) April 8, 2024