So the Republicans argue they don’t need witnesses because the Democrats proved their case, and now they’ll vote to acquit the defendant. Looks like a runaway jury to me, or maybe what they call “jury nullification.” (We saw this happen with the Malheur Wildlife Refuge terrorists, too. Republicans just can’t be trusted with civic responsibility anymore.)
The Senate has sole power to hear all impeachments. Senators are not a jury and they remain Senators. The Senate as a whole decides to call witnesses or not. In the Clinton impeachment all the witnesses called has already given testimony in the case.
The votes were never there in the Senate to impeach. It is supposed to be difficult to remove a President by impeachment or any official by impeachment. Which maybe why it is such a rare event and why less than half off all impeachments have resulted in removal and all of those judges, one who now sits in the House of Representatives as a Democrat. There were few if any witnesses called before the Senate committee in that impeachment. With other impeachments the committee does Senate that then votes…not much of a trial, but it is cool with the Supremes who ruled in Nixon v the United States that impeachment is however the Senate wants to run with it.
So the Republicans argue they don’t need witnesses because the Democrats proved their case, and now they’ll vote to acquit the defendant. Looks like a runaway jury to me, or maybe what they call “jury nullification.” (We saw this happen with the Malheur Wildlife Refuge terrorists, too. Republicans just can’t be trusted with civic responsibility anymore.)
The Senate has sole power to hear all impeachments. Senators are not a jury and they remain Senators. The Senate as a whole decides to call witnesses or not. In the Clinton impeachment all the witnesses called has already given testimony in the case.
The votes were never there in the Senate to impeach. It is supposed to be difficult to remove a President by impeachment or any official by impeachment. Which maybe why it is such a rare event and why less than half off all impeachments have resulted in removal and all of those judges, one who now sits in the House of Representatives as a Democrat. There were few if any witnesses called before the Senate committee in that impeachment. With other impeachments the committee does Senate that then votes…not much of a trial, but it is cool with the Supremes who ruled in Nixon v the United States that impeachment is however the Senate wants to run with it.
While I AGREE, it was written before the advent of political parties and did not resolve the definition of what a President was supposed to be.