What the Senate Does Now Will Cast a Long Shadow.

Mitch McConnell and the other 99 senators must serve the institution and the Constitution that established it, not President Trump. by Senator Patrick Leahy

When the Senate ultimately convenes to consider whether to remove the president from office, for just the third time in its history, it will convene not as a legislative body, but as a court of impeachment. And it will not just be President Trump on trial. The Senate — and indeed, truth itself — will stand trial.

Senators serve as a unique combination of judge and juror during an impeachment trial. Sworn in by the chief justice of the United States, senators take a special oath to do “impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.” This is an oath I have taken several times. First elected to the Senate in 1974, in the wake of Watergate, I have served on six impeachment trials since then — five judges and one president. I take this oath extraordinarily seriously. And it’s one I fear the Senate is on the verge of abandoning.

Senator Lindsey Graham has admitted that he’s “not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.” The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, vowing a quick acquittal, boasted that he is “not an impartial juror” and pledged that “there will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”

This is tantamount to a criminal defendant being allowed to set the rules for his own trial, while the judge and jury promise him a quick acquittal. That is a far cry from the “impartial justice” required by our oaths and the Constitution.>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/opinion/senate-impeachment-trial.html?