ABC7 - Senate dismisses both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security secretary

April 17, 2024

WASHINGTON (TND) — The Senate on Wednesday dismissed both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The two votes effectively end the trial before arguments ever began. Senators voted separately to dismiss the two articles of impeachment, arguing that they were unconstitutional.

The first article charged Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law." The second article charged Mayorkas with a "breach of trust" for saying the border was secure.

According to Punchbowl News, several Republicans objected to a proposed timetable that would have created a 90-minute window for bipartisan debate ahead of consideration of two GOP-backed motions related to the trial. One would properly establish the trial and the other would seek to establish a trial committee.

The latter, a measure not in the Constitution, was introduced as a Senate rule in 1934 and allows for the presiding officer -- whether the vice president or the president pro tempore -- to appoint of group of Senators to a body that carries out some of the trial duties, like hearing evidence or witness testimony, freeing up the majority of the chamber for regular legislative business.

Part of the proposed timeline that fell apart Tuesday night would have also included votes on motions from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to dismiss the charges against Mayorkas, something Senate Democrats have hinted they would try since the House managed to impeach the Homeland Security secretary in February, after the vote initially failed when a small group of Republicans voted against it over concerns of precedent.

Hardline Republicans voted down the "hotline" for debate and consideration of the four motions over concerns that any such deal with Democrats would give Schumer more power to end the impeachment early and or without trial.

“I don’t think we should be negotiating with the arsonists here,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Punchbowl. “If Chuck Schumer wants to blow up impeachment trials forever, he ought to own that."

Schmitt, as well as others like his fellow Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, argued that such a timeline would ultimately be pointless if Schumer goes through with one of a couple of procedures to end the impeachment process without the full trial.

Schumer has called the impeachment of Mayorkas an "awful precedent for Congress" and that the effort stemmed from "policy disagreements" rather than any legitimate violation of law or infraction of high crimes or misdemeanors.

"Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement. Talk about awful precedence — this would set an awful precedent for Congress,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Every time there’s a policy disagreement in the House, they send it over here to tie the Senate in knots to do an impeachment trial? That’s absurd. That’s an abuse of the process.

His comments reflect the sentiments of the three House Republicans that initially voted down the Mayorkas impeachment in February – before it was passed a week later due to absences in the chamber creating a lower vote threshold – who argued in some form or another that Mayorkas' actions in office did not rise to the level of impeachable offenses and the act of impeaching him would be dangerous for both parties down the line.

"I think that it lowers the grounds of impeachment to a point where we can expect it to be leveled against every conservative Supreme Court justice and future Republican president and Cabinet member the moment the Democrats take control,” Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told reporters back in February."

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., a staunch conservative and member of the House Freedom Caucus, argued that Mayorkas will be "remembered as the worst Secretary of Homeland Security in history," but his "inexcusable ... incompetence" does not rise to the grounds of impeachment. Buck resigned from Congress a little over a month after casting his vote opposing the impeachment.

“The outcome of my vote would depend upon the quality and convincing nature of the presentation,” Romney told The Washington Times. “It would have to be something which is more than just checking a box. It would have to be a legitimate discussion that would help me and others reach a conclusion consistent with the impartial justice oath that we’re going to take.”

Some of Romney's fellow moderates, like Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have also voiced their opposition to the Mayorkas impeachment.

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