Submitted by United States Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
WASHINGTON (Apr. 9, 2024) – Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined Republican colleagues in calling on Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to hold a full, fair trial in the Senate to consider the House of Representatives’ articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The House of Representatives has impeached Mayorkas for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” which are outlined in two articles of impeachment. The U.S. Constitution, within Article I, Section 3, Clause 6, vests the Senate with the sole power to “try all Impeachments.”
“A charitable interpretation of what Sen. Schumer is planning to do does not exist. It doesn’t. He is going to either make a motion to table or to dismiss the work done by the U.S. House of Representatives and our 200 plus year history,” explained Kennedy, in light of Senate Democrats’ apparent plans to bury the impeachment charges without a full trial.
The Senate has held a full trial in every impeachment except in four cases where the official was either removed or resigned, so dismissing or tabling the articles against Mayorkas would be unprecedented.
“I fully expect Senator Schumer to try to muddy up the water, to try to make it look deep, but this is really very simple: We’re either going to follow Senate custom, Senate rules and Senate history, or we are not,” Kennedy said.
“Now, originally, Senator Schumer had planned to do this on the Thursday when everybody is trying to get back to their districts. Isn’t that special? Wonder why he picked a Thursday. . . . This is unconscionable, people. This ranks right up there with getting rid of the filibuster. We’re either going to have a United States Senate as set up by our founders or we’re not, and that’s what’s going on here,” Kennedy concluded.
Background
In March, Kennedy explained why it would be unprecedented for the Senate to dismiss the impeachment charges the House has leveled against Mayorkas without holding a trial.
