Balkinization  

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Another Senate Trial Question

Stephen Griffin

Is whether David Super is right that any proposal by Majority Leader McConnell to establish trial rules different from the Senate's permanent impeachment trial rules (last changed in 1986) can and will be filibustered by Democrats.  Super thinks the default rules work to the Democrats advantage by giving the Chief Justice more leeway to preside.  I've seen no discussion of this possibility in the press.  I think filibustering McConnell's rules might be difficult for the Democrats to explain unless they did a lot of work, but I'm not sure.  I'm more sure that Super is not remembering the Clinton trial correctly.  What everyone remembers about the Clinton trial is the 100-0 vote setting up the initial rules, a vote that McConnell has treated as a "precedent."  What everyone seems to forget is that the rest of the trial beyond the ambit of the 100-0 agreement was firmly under the control of Majority Leader Trent Lott.  Chief Justice Rehnquist presided and he took Lott's "advice" about how to rule on motions.  Any other course would have resulted in Republican senators reversing Rehnquist's rulings on appeal, which presumably Rehnquist didn't want.  I think CJ Roberts will be no different.

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