Denizen
Gold Member
- Oct 23, 2018
- 4,837
- 1,062
- 190
- Banned
- #1
Any senator who has proclaimed their impeachment voting position ahead of the Senate impeachment trial is in danger of violating their oath and being expelled from jury duty by the Chief Justice.
It is arguable that a number of GOP senators are publicly stating that they will not abide by their oath of office, nor the oath for the impeachment trial.
Is it indeed possible that the Chief Justice will disqualify GOP senators form the impeachment jury on the basis that their public statements imply they are falsely swearing the oath for the trial?
Has McConnell and Graham and their ilk actually disqualified themselves from the impeachment jury?
It is an interesting argument that GOP senators could be violating their oaths ahead of the swearing-in of the jury in order to be disqualified from the impeachment jury so they are not seen to be voting for impeachment.
Or, could senators who are publicly supporting Trump be able to justify flipping and their vote to impeach or a non-vote by claiming the oath made them do it.
May you live in interesting times.
How Will Republican Senators Honor Their Impeachment Oaths? | Washington Monthly
It is arguable that a number of GOP senators are publicly stating that they will not abide by their oath of office, nor the oath for the impeachment trial.
Is it indeed possible that the Chief Justice will disqualify GOP senators form the impeachment jury on the basis that their public statements imply they are falsely swearing the oath for the trial?
Has McConnell and Graham and their ilk actually disqualified themselves from the impeachment jury?
It is an interesting argument that GOP senators could be violating their oaths ahead of the swearing-in of the jury in order to be disqualified from the impeachment jury so they are not seen to be voting for impeachment.
Or, could senators who are publicly supporting Trump be able to justify flipping and their vote to impeach or a non-vote by claiming the oath made them do it.
May you live in interesting times.
How Will Republican Senators Honor Their Impeachment Oaths? | Washington Monthly
How Will Republican Senators Honor Their Impeachment Oaths?
by Martin LongmanDecember 16, 2019POLITICAL ANIMAL
It’s not often that I cite William Kristol favorably, but he and Jeffrey Tulis have an important piece in The Bulwark. It focuses on an important constitutional requirement of any impeachment trial.
The key to the system working as it should is the understanding that the Senate as a court of impeachment is a different institution than the Senate as usual. When the Senate moves to become an impeachment court, senators take a new oath. At that moment the institution transforms itself.
That’s why, according to Article I, section 3, clause 6 of the Constitution, senators, when sitting on a trial of impeachment, “shall be on Oath or Affirmation.” Of course, when elected to the Senate, all senators swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. But the senators, when sitting as a court, are asked to take an additional oath. It is a juror’s and judge’s oath—not a legislator’s oath.
Rule XXV of the Senate Rules in Impeachment Trials provides the text: “I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.”
The exact wording of the oath could be changed, but the oath itself is the Senate’s answer to language of the Constitution itself. I don’t think modern Americans take oaths very seriously compared to our ancestors, but they used to be something people were very reluctant to break. ...