Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), as President pro tempore of the Senate, will participate as a witness, juror and judge in the second impeachment case against former President Trump, which began on the 9th; Trump’s lawyers have protested against this, while Leahy has promised to preside over and conduct a fair trial in accordance with the law.
The first is that the 80-year-old Li Xi was in the Senate during the congressional protests in January; the second is that he was one of the 100 senators who decided whether to convict Trump for “sedition”; and finally, as the most senior member of the majority party, he recently took over again as president pro tempore of the Senate, and the job of presiding over the impeachment trial also fell on him.
He said he has been speaking at the Senate podium and banging the gavel for more than 40 years, and he is ready to face the impeachment case; he said in an interview, “I’ve presided over hundreds of hours of hearings, I don’t know how many decisions I’ve made. I’ve never had anybody, any Republican or Democrat, say that my rulings were unfair.”
Trump’s lawyers have a different view, however, arguing that Leahy’s participation in the trial then proves their claim that the impeachment trial process was unconstitutional.
A memo filed by Trump’s lawyers on the 8th reads, “Today, the impeachment trial is not being conducted by the Chief Justice, but by a biased and partisan senator who is allegedly serving as a juror and also ruling on related issues.”
Trump lawyers say Leahy is involved in multiple roles in the Trump impeachment trial and that any conviction would pose a legal challenge.
Who should preside over an official’s impeachment trial has always been a murky area; the Constitution is sparse on the subject, saying only that the chief justice of the Supreme Court should preside over the president’s impeachment trial.
But Chief Justice John Roberts has made it clear that he has no intention of presiding over another presidential impeachment trial, and Vice President Herbert Ho would be the logical second choice as Senate president, but she has no intention of getting involved in a highly politicized trial.
The responsibility therefore falls to Senate President Pro Tempore Leahy to preside over the Senate Assembly in her absence; in fact, Leahy said in January that he would preside over the impeachment hearings, as it has always been the Senate President Pro Tempore who presides over the impeachment hearings of non-presidents.
“That’s not what I’m asking for.” Leahy said, “I want to make sure that the work is done to the best of my ability and that everyone can look back on it that way afterwards.”
Leahy began sending a letter to all his colleagues on the 9th, in which he promised a fair trial.
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