- Senators will handle DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment soon after they return to Washington.
- House Republicans are expected to formally present their articles on Wednesday.
- It’s likely that Democrats will move to end the entire affair soon after.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas‘ historic impeachment trial will likely be over before you even notice.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated that senators will likely be sworn in as jurors on Thursday. A day earlier, 11 House Republican impeachment managers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, will formally march across the Capitol Rotunda to deliver two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. Mayorkas is just the second Cabinet official in American history to be impeached. He has strenuously denied the charges that he failed to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.
Conservative legal scholars and even three House Republicans have questioned Mayorkas’ impeachment. They have concluded that the GOP case against him is essentially a proxy trial of President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration. In that way, they are fearful of a new precedent that allows for Cabinet officials to be impeached for policy disputes between the branches of government.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called for senators to hold a full trial. But even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell believes it’s likely the matter will be quickly dismissed. No one in Washington seriously believes Mayorkas is in jeopardy of being convicted, which would take a two-thirds vote and thus require the support of scores of Democrats.
“[T]he Democrats have a majority, so it may not go on very long,” McConnell told reporters earlier in the week. “But my preference would be to actually have a trial. But I think the majority is likely to prevent that.”
Here’s how Democrats will likely handle Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Didn’t the House impeach Mayorkas almost two months ago?
Yes. After failing to impeach Mayorkas on the first vote, House Republicans narrowly impeached the Homeland Security secretary on February 13.
Since then, the GOP has held onto the articles as Republicans struggled to meet two deadlines to avoid partial government shutdowns. The delay has led to some potential awkwardness, namely that since Speaker Mike Johnson appointed Greene as an impeachment manager she moved to begin the process of removing him from power.
This is arguably Greene’s highest profile role she has held since joining Congress.
How will Democrats handle the charges?
There are a couple of avenues Democrats can use to quickly dispose of the articles. The most straightforward would be for a senator to file for dismissal of the charges. While senators are sworn in as jurors during all impeachment trials, they don’t act like a typical jury. They don’t have to try to avoid the news. They can openly express their views of the case beforehand. And if the trial were to reach the stage, they would have the opportunity to provide written questions both to Mayorkas’ defense team and to the House managers.
Based on historical precedent, a senator could file for dismissal shortly after the Senate formally moves to become a court or in a brief period that allows for pre-trial motions, according to a group of impeachment experts. The experts, who wrote in detail about the trial procedure for Just Security, also point out that there is precedent for such a motion to dismiss. Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, unsuccessfully offered a motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton during his 1999 trial. Clinton was later acquitted.
It is worth noting, as The Washington Post pointed out,…
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