Mayorkas Impeachment Articles Will Be Delivered Tuesday, Though Schumer Could Still Block a Trial
The majority leader has told his colleagues that he plans to make a motion to dismiss the articles once the impeachment managers make their delivery.
The articles of impeachment levied against the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, will be delivered to the Senate floor on Tuesday, setting up either a days-long trial that could endanger the reelection prospects of some Democrats or set a new precedent should Senator Schumer move to dismiss the articles altogether.
The articles will be delivered by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Mark Green, who will be joined in his trek across the Capitol by other impeachment managers who will act as prosecutors in the case.
Speaker Johnson has included some conservative hardliners on the impeachment manager team, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Congressman Clay Higgins.
The timing of the planned delivery of the articles was first reported by Axios.
Mr. Shumer has told colleagues that he intends to make a motion to dismiss the articles, forgoing a trial altogether. If he does so, it would be the first time in American history that the Senate has tabled articles of impeachment for a federal official who has not yet resigned or passed away.
Republicans have warned Mr. Schumer will be setting a dangerous precedent should he decide to dismiss the articles. “The Senate has never tabled articles of impeachment. Nor should it,” Senator Lee says. “Unless the case has been rendered moot by death or departure from office, the Senate has a solemn, constitutional obligation to conduct a trial, as it always has.”
The lack of a trial and lack of a vote to either convict or acquit Mr. Mayorkas may aid some vulnerable Senate Democrats who are up for reelection this year, including Senators Tester, Brown, Rosen, and Baldwin. According to polling from December, just 26 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of immigration and border issues, and allowing these swing-state senators to avoid a vote on the merits of Mr. Mayorkas’ impeachment could take a key talking point off the table for Republicans in the fall.
To dismiss articles of impeachment, it takes a simple majority vote.
