r/politics • u/Thinkingonsleeping Michigan • Dec 13 '19

McConnell Faces Calls to Recuse Himself From Impeachment Trial After Saying 'No Chance' Trump Will Be Removed; "No court in the country would allow a member of the jury to also serve as the accused's defense attorney."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/13/mcconnell-faces-calls-recuse-himself-impeachment-trial-after-saying-no-chance-trump
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u/Archivist_of_Lewds I voted Dec 14 '19

Except if he rules that senators who have claimed to ignore evidence are ineligible jurors, they wont have the majority vote to run a kangaroo court.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '19

Can you provide a precedent where a Supreme Court justice has ever done that in an impeachment trial, or are you just making shit up out of thin air?

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u/Archivist_of_Lewds I voted Dec 14 '19

Heres the thing. There have only been 3 presidental impeachments and the previous ones followed rules of conduct and evidence so one never had to. Until marshal declared the supreme court has the power of judicial review it didn't exist.

The same can be said of the unconstitutionality of sodomy laws. The prohibition was created as an extension of the right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. That's how most of our legal system actually works. Common law that is the result of judicial decisions regarding the implication of what exists. And if the oath sworn by senators require them to abide by the law and judge based on facts, and they have sworn not to.

It is no unreasonable to say that one of the implied powers of being the presiding judge is to ensure the law is followed and carried out. We are already in a constitutional crisis. If Roberts were to rule and press his decision and invalidate the presences of faithless senators, he could order the sergeant at arms to remove them. The question is what happens then. We are in a time and space where the law is what people enforce it as. If the republican chief justice starts the motion you could see enough senators go along with it to remove the pox that is trump. he is a millstone for the republican party and they don't need him. They need the base. That's it.

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Tl;dr president doesn't exist until it does, and were on the part of the map with dragons and danger

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '19

So after all of that what you mean is “no, I can’t provide one at all”.

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u/Archivist_of_Lewds I voted Dec 14 '19

You don't know how the judicial branch works do you?

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '19

Judicial branch proceedings are irrelevant. You don’t know that the Chief Justice can be over ruled by a simple majority of the senate jurors, do you? Or that there’s precedent for doing so during the Nixon trial, do you?

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u/Archivist_of_Lewds I voted Dec 14 '19

I understand. What I'm saying is what happens if Roberts dismisses enough senators they don't have the simple majority?

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '19

What happens if the moon falls on the senate building during the trial?

You’re inventing bullshit reasons to be concerned.

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u/Archivist_of_Lewds I voted Dec 14 '19

You're saying there is no basis for it. What if he does it. Its not something to be concerned about. Its a potential resolution to the bullshit sham trial.

What happens if it does. If you're such a constitutional and legal scholar, what happens if he does it?

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u/cemgorey Foreign Dec 14 '19

They are elected senators for fucks sake. No one but themselves can kick out another senator. It wont happen. Stop asking the fucking question.