On January 12th, Senator Patrick Leahy Tweeted, “Trump’s crimes trying to overturn our elections and openly instigating a riot causing deaths to warrant his immediate resignation or removal.”
Nixon committed crimes nowhere near as serious as those by President Trump, and yet Nixon knew he had to resign. Trump’s crimes trying to overturn our elections and openly instigating a riot causing deaths warrant his immediate resignation or removal. https://t.co/R0KPH6px7C
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) January 12, 2021
And that is a problem…
Leahy is currently President Pro Tempore of the Senate. This means he is effectively the presiding officer of the Senate, in the absence of the Vice President. To take this position, the President Pro Tempore takes a specific oath, swearing to provide impartial justice.
This would be all fine and good if we were talking about a normal legislative session. But, Leahy is presiding over a constitutionally-questionable impeachment trial of someone who is not in office. When viewed upon the backdrop of his previous comments, it is clear that he is anything but impartial.
But, Leahy doesn’t want to be thought of in that way. In a grand display of feigned statesmanship, Leahy tweeted on January 25th, “When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes a special oath to do impartial justice according to the Constitution & the laws. It is an oath that I take extraordinarily seriously. My comment here on presiding over Pres. Trump’s impeachment trial.”
When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes a special oath to do impartial justice according to the Constitution & the laws. It is an oath that I take extraordinarily seriously. My comment here on presiding over Pres. Trump’s impeachment trial: pic.twitter.com/Y93RedVb8w
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) January 25, 2021
Could a reasonable person believe Leahy will be impartial, particularly given that he’s publically announced his own belief that Trump is guilty?
Yes, impeachment trials are inherently political. And jurors (the 100 Senators) are not required to be impartial. Meaning, one cannot keep a biased-Senator from being a juror in the same way normal citizens can (and should) be during a criminal trial.
The rules don’t work like that.
But, Leahy took an oath to be something other than what he has proven to be, which is very, very partial. All this would be easier to swallow if Senators (like Leahy) would stop pretending and admit what reasonable people know for sure: this extremely-partial, Constitutionally-questionable, and unnecessary “trial” risks driving America further and further apart.
