In the days since the Senate voted against hearing witnesses during the President’s impeachment trial, I’ve seen a lot of misinformation directed at our state’s congressional delegation. A common theme throughout most, if not all, of these attacks is a fundamental misunderstanding of the very different roles the Senate and the House have during impeachment proceedings.
The founders intentionally delegated differing roles to each body in the event of a partisan impeachment, like the one our nation just witnessed. The House of Representatives is supposed to conduct a thorough investigation, gather evidence and hear witness testimony that supports a case for impeaching the President of the United States; ultimately removing him from office and disregarding the will of the people who cast their votes to elect him.
Moreover, common sense and a rudimentary understanding of the current, divided political landscape clearly requires broad bipartisan support, for a call for impeachment to have any validity. There was no bipartisan support in the House.
Further, it is the Senate’s job to hear the facts of the case and to decide, as a jury, whether or not the President is guilty of charges brought by the House. It is not senators' job to build a case for impeachment or to do the work the Constitution requires of the House of Representatives. It was also their job to exercise their power of constitutional oversight and rightfully prevent setting a dangerous precedent for the future of our nation. They did both, and we should all be very grateful for that!
I applaud both Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan for understanding their role as jurors, and for preventing our nation’s Constitution from being weaponized for partisan tactics and political theater.
L. Dean Marshall
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.