Is the House of Representatives Trying to Keep the Law Away? The Case for a Full-Scale Homeland Security Trial

The day after the trial starts, senators will be sworn in as jurors. Senate President Pro Tempre Patty Murray will preside.

The prosecutors for the trial will be appointed by Johnson. Mark Green of Tennessee is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Other Republicans on the panel are managers.

The Senate needed to start a full scale trial because Johnson first told Schumer in a letter that he was going to transmit the articles on April 10. We urge you to fulfill your constitutional obligation to hold this trial. The American people demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible,” he said.

Greene touted her role in the process on social media and pressed Schumer to hold a trial. Her role as a manager was added at the same time she was threatening to bring up a resolution to oust Speaker Johnson.

After the 11 House impeachment managers deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate, they will read the charges against Secretary Mayorkas. The House resolution includes two charges — willfully ignoring the law and breaching the public’s trust.

Roughly two months after voting to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Republicans will deliver the charges to the Senate on Tuesday to formally kick off a trial. The Senate is not expected to convict or remove Mayorkas. Democratic sources tell NPR that they expect Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move to dispose of the charges, with either a motion to dismiss or by tabling the charges.

Johnson’s letter had a prebuttal to this move. The speaker said, “To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve.”

The Senate has a duty to hold a trial. In every previous congressional impeachment of the past 227 years, Congress has been faithful to the process set out by the framers,” the senators wrote. They added, “Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best.”

Once the resolution is sent to the Senate, no other legislative business can be taken up, unless all 100 senators agree otherwise. The debate comes amid a busy week. Schumer noted that he plans action on legislation to extend a surveillance program, known as Section 702, used to monitor communications abroad from individuals who could pose a national security threat. The program’s authority expires on Friday. Congress is also debating additional aid for Israel, following the attack from Iran over the weekend.

Republicans in the chambers are very eager to bring the issue of border security to the fore during the election year. President Biden’s handling of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border remains a weak spot politically for him, according to recent public opinion polls.

Schumer said his plans had not changed with the House Republicans’ delay. He noted on Monday, “We are ready to go whenever the House sends us the articles. We want to address the issue as soon as possible.

After a group of Senate Republicans pressed for more time to prepare and make a case for a full debate, Speaker Johnson decided to delay sending the articles for a week.

The Senate Appropriately Doesn’t Impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: “There’s no evidence” for impeachment

The catastrophe at the southern border is the top issue for the American people. We must hold those who engineered this crisis to full account,” he said.

He said that it would be beneath the dignity of the Senate to ignore its clear responsibility and fail to give the charges they deserve.

Democrats are watching moderate Republicans like Romney very closely in the narrowly controlled chamber because he is a key swing vote who could help wrap the effort up as quickly as possible.

“I far prefer having a debate and discussion of some kind or a trial or a committee discussion,” Romney told NPR. “I think a motion to table sets a very unfortunate constitutional precedent.”

Legislative business can’t happen if all senators don’t agree. That’s a concern for Democrats, with Congress facing a Friday deadline to renew legislation to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which remains quite controversial. Congress is debating additional support for Israel, after Iran attacked it over the weekend.

The articles charged Mayorkas with willfully ignoring the law and breaching the public’s trust. Democrats said that the opposition did not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, which is required for impeachment. Republicans say that Mayorkas doesn’t enforce immigration laws.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the Senate’s decision to reject the baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas proves there was no evidence to justify impeachment.

“We want to address this issue as expeditiously as possible,” Schumer said Tuesday. “Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement. Talk about awful precedents.”

The trial comes roughly two months after House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas by one vote, the tightest of margins. The House impeachment managers delivered the articles to the Senate on Tuesday, triggering the next steps in a trial.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was expected to dispose of the charges, with either a motion to dismiss or tabling them, but discussions continued late Tuesday for a potential bipartisan deal for debate. It was not known if a deal was reached by early Wednesday.

The impeachment trial against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has ended after both the Senate and House rejected the articles of impeachment.

“By doing what we just did, we have in effect, ignored the directions of the House, which were to have a trial,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after senators killed the second article. “No evidence, no procedure. In the history of the Senate, it’s not a proud day.

He said that it would set a terrible precedent for Congress if that happened. “Anytime the House would want to just shut the Senate down, they could send over another impeachment resolution.”

The speaker said he was disappointed that the charges did not get a full trial.

He said Mayorkas was “probably the least effective and I think most dangerous, in terms of his policy implementations, of any cabinet secretary in the history of the United States.” Johnson predicted there would be a “reckoning” over the border issue in the November election.