"Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you god?"
That was the oath that bound members of the US Senate as jurors on the impeachment of Donald J. Trump.
"Impartial justice."
Only Chief Justice John Roberts knew, as he administered that oath to Senate Republicans that the one thing they would not deliver was impartial justice. He knew that he was presiding over a sham. He knew that those Senate Republicans were perjuring themselves as they swore that oath.
Roberts looked the other way.
He knew that acquittal was a foregone conclusion. He knew that the fix was in. He probably knew that some of those senators, those deemed less than wholly reliable, had been intimidated. He knew it was a blatant case of jury tampering, itself a felonious crime.
Yet he looked the other way.
The majority leader, Mitch McConnell, didn't hesitate to tell reporters that he was coordinating the trial with the White House. Imagine a juror who shamelessly admits he is coordinating the trial with the accused. Is that impartial?
6 comments:
Roberts was in on the sham. How many other trials has he presided over in which no witnesses or documentary evidence were allowed? How many times has he allowed a material witness to act as the accused's lawyer, as he did with Pasquale "Pat" Cipolloni? The "trial" was a farce presided over by a partisan judge.
Cap
There's no question he facilitated this travesty, Cap. The highest jurist in the land, utterly corrupt. So much for "checks and balances" when you've got a stacked deck Supreme Court, a shamelessly "bought and paid for" Congress at the beck and call of a criminal president.
It was Jefferson who said that, every now and then, the Tree of Liberty would need to be refreshed with the blood of patriots. That voice from the distant past now has a certain immediacy.
"When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside," says the US Constitution. What happened in the Senate would not be recognized as a trial in any court, not even traffic court! If Roberts had any sense or view to history, he would have refused to preside over something that clearly wasn't a trial. He should have put the ball back into Trump's court and said he wouldn't be part of a mockery of justice. He deserves to be impeached for his part in the farce.
Cap
I think back to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and it occurs to me that some of the Justices have taken to making the robes look rather silly as of late. Maybe a clip of Roberts sitting there trying to look serious while this farce played out will be the example that some future film documentarian uses to illustrate the breakdown of their cherished fallacy of checks-and-balances.
I totally agree, Cap. I suppose it says more about me than him that I harboured a shred of hope that he would defend the integrity of the proceeding. Not a chance. I had also hoped that some Dems would challenge the oath of Republicans who had openly stated well in advance of the "trial" that they would acquit Trump no matter what. That includes Mitch who at various times said he was "closely coordinating" the impeachment trial with the accused. Had the Dems argued against these Repugs for their failure of "impartiality" they might have painted Roberts into a corner.
I expect, John, that history won't be kind to this era in Washington from the Supreme Court to Capitol Hill to the White House. I'm getting this unsettling feeling that America is facing another bought of sectarian conflict.
When you are ruled by a "stacked deck" judiciary, a "bought and paid for" Congress and a criminal presidency, the fix is in and it's working for someone just not you.
If Americans want to restore a functioning democracy I'm convinced they'll have to fight for it.
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