Senate Rejects Impeachment Articles Against Mayorkas in a Party-Line Vote

  • by:
  • Source: Wayne Dupree
  • 04/17/2024
On a party-line vote, the Senate decided to reject both of the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, allowing Democrats to stop the proceedings and save Republicans the sight of a protracted Senate trial.

In February, House Republicans decided to impeach Mayorkas because to the surge of migrants at the southern border. This is just the second time in American history that a Cabinet member has been impeached; the other instance was almost 150 years ago.

The allegations made against Secretary Mayorkas fall short of the serious crimes and offenses that constitute them. Schumer said, "It would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future to validate this egregious abuse by the House."

Schumer said that since the charges did not meet the requirements for a serious crime or misdemeanor, they were "unconstitutional." Schumer moved to quash the charges immediately after first-term Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) objected to a unanimous consent request by Schumer to give senators time to debate the trial procedure and to consider resolutions sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) to either hold a full trial or send the impeachment to a special committee for thorough review.

Schmitt was protesting Schumer’s plan to eventually move to dismiss the impeachment after defeating the motions to hold a trial or refer it to committee.

Cruz tried to block Schumer’s move to dismiss the charges by offering a motion to send the Senate into a private session to debate the constitutionality of the impeachment, but Democrats voted it down.Republicans in the Senate made an unsuccessful effort to stop the motions for dismissal. According to The Hill:


Legislators cast a party-line vote, 51-49, to reject the two articles of impeachment. Shortly thereafter, the Senate also decided by the same margin to conclude the impeachment trial.

The House voted "the least legitimate, least substantive, and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States," according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during his floor address.


 

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