GOP senators keep breaking their own impeachment trial rules

[turbinetree]

By Emily Singer -January 23, 2020 9:40 AM

Impeachment trial rules require senators to remain at their desks while proceedings are going on.

More than 20 Republican senators violated Senate rules on Wednesday by leaving the chamber while House Democrats made their case for why Donald Trump deserved to be impeached, according to reporter Michael McAuliff.

Rules for the trial require senators to remain at their desks while the trial is taking place, and are banned from bringing in electronics such as cellphones or computers. Senators are also not allowed to talk while arguments are being made.

However, multiple Republicans violated those rules, getting up for extended periods of time while the House Democratic impeachment managers made their case for why Trump should be removed from office.

Democrats spent hours on Wednesday laying out the case against Trump.

https://americanindependent.com/gop-senators-break-impeachment-trial-rules-donald-trump-trial-republicans-chamber-desks/

Since the the chief justice presiding over the impeachment is basically allowing this shenanigans of the breaking of the rules and decorum the phone goes into a recording.....................but you can try......................

https://www.supremecourt.gov/contact/contactus.aspx

Telephone: [phone]
TTY: 202-479-3472
Public Information Office at the following number: 202-479-3211,


You also have the option to contact the Sgt of Arms to register your opinion and complaint that will be relayed to the presiding "judge" in the impeachment hearing.............................to ask what gives, are there not rules........................


Michael C. Stenger
Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper
U.S. Capitol
Room S-151
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: [phone]

[dalton99a]

1. Rules and laws don't apply to Republicans

[turbinetree]

3. I know but if they get an earful that people are watching...............rules are rules.............

[malaise]

2. Decorum is about ensuring that Dems can't call a cover-up a cover-up

and can't call lies lies. Go figure.

[turbinetree]

4. Yepper spot on....................but I think we have the power to let them know ................

we are watching enough is enough...........................play by the rules everyone else has too..................do your job, and if they can't do their job resign........................

[MagickMuffin]

5. It's what they do, rules do not apply to them

Please please PRETTY PLEASE let the tsunami blue wave take care of this mess and every republicon is ushered out of office.

[C_U_L8R]

6. If the juror isn't present, they must be disqualified

There's really nothing more basic than that.

[onenote]

8. They're not jurors.

And there is no basis in the Constitution for disqualifying a Senator from voting in an impeachment trial because they didn't attend every minute of the trial -- or even any of the trial.

Keep in mind that a Supreme Court Justice is not "disqualified" from participating and voting in a case where he or she did not attend the oral argument. Justice Ginsburg has missed several arguments, but no one is claiming she has to sit out those cases. She can read the briefs and the transcripts. The same is true for Senators -- the transcripts and briefs are available to them.

[C_U_L8R]

9. Clearly it's unfair in every regard. To the process, to the truth, to the Constitution.

To the oath Senators took at the beginning of these proceedings.
And no matter where the technical lines are precisely drawn,
Republican are indelibly staining themselves with corrupt behavior.

[onenote]

10. Is it unfair for Ginsburg to vote in cases where she missed the oral argument?

[C_U_L8R]

11. If she was a Senator charged with judging the President's impeachment? Yeah.

As Chris Matthews just said... 'we'll see if Republicans can keep their eyes, hearts and brains open.' In a way, they are on trial too. As are the House Managers. Fortunately the House Managers are litigating a magnificent case.

[onenote]

13. So Supreme Court decisions aren't that important in your estimation?

And how do you enforce someone paying attention? The transcripts and briefs are available -- sitting in the same room isn't required for a SCOTUS decision. Why should it matter in an impeachment proceeding? Should it be different for presidential impeachments than other impeachments? Where would one find authority for drawing that distinction?

By their rules, upheld by the SCOTUS, the Senate could vote to create a committee to hear testimony and review evidence in lieu of it being presented directly to the entire Senate.

[C_U_L8R]

14. Apples and Oranges

Sorry, not biting. Hugs

[onenote]

15. Not really.

Even in the Clinton impeachment it was not deemed necessary for Senators to directly hear everything but instead rely on written transcripts. For example, in the Clinton impeachment, it was agreed, over the near unanimous opposition of Senate Democrats, that three witnesses would be called: Lewinsky, Jordan, and Blumenthal. They were questioned by the House managers for several hours behind closed doors, not publicly in front of the Senators. None of them ever testified in person before the entire Senate. However, the transcripts of those depositions were entered into evidence and, in the case of Lewinsky, video "excerpts" from her depositions were played.

[onenote]

7. This is not true. There are guidelines, not rules, and they are not mandatory.

Folks are getting worked up claiming that the "rules" relating to attendance during the impeachment trial are being "violated." The only problem is that there are no hard and fast rules requiring continuous attendance. There are only wishy washy guidelines. Schumer isn't seeking to "enforce" these "rules" because he knows they aren't really enforceable "rules" -- after all, they were issued jointly by McConnell and Schumer.

Specifically, the decorum guidelines, embodied in a letter signed jointly by McConnell and Schumer, state that "Senators should plan to be in attendance at all times during the proceedings." "Plan to be" not "must be". Similarly, the guidelines state that "Members should refrain from talking to neighboring Senators while the case is being presented" -- should, not must. And continuing along those same lines: "Reading materials should be confined to only those readings which pertain to the matter before the Senate" -- again, "should" not "must."

Even the requirement that members sit rather than stand while, which is supposed to be "strictly enforced" ends up being more of a request than a requirement:

"During the impeachment proceedings, standing will not be permitted on the floor and this requirement
will be strictly enforced. Accordingly, all Senators are requested to remain in their seats at all times they
are on the Senate floor during the impeachment proceedings" -- "requested" not "required".

[Timewas]

12. Really

The entire process is a joke..............