Letters to the Editor

Letter: Impeachment trial must be fair

I read about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s pronouncement on Fox News that “There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this …” and “There’s no chance the president will be removed from office.” If this coordination between jury and defendant happens, this will be the end of the United States as a functioning republic.

I have studied history. I know what happens next.

This total disregard for the explicit procedures set up in the Constitution should fill our senators with rage. They swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. If they meant that oath, they must insist on an actual trial of the articles of impeachment, not a show trial.

Remember the Constitution: Article 1, Section 3: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that purpose they shall be on Oath or Affirmation.”

The integrity of the Senate is at stake. Are our senators going to stand by while this honorable body is degraded into nothing, or are they going to uphold their oaths and stand up for the Constitution and the United States and insist on a fair, impartial trial?

— Kate Laird

Cordova

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