Senate majority quashes Mayorkas impeachment due to lack of specified crimes

The U.S. Senate voted on April 17 to reject two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, deeming them unconstitutional because the U.S. House of Representatives failed to specify any high crimes or misdemeanors. All 49 Senate Republicans backed a series of delaying motions, stalling for hours in protest of what many misleadingly called an unprecedented action.

Senate Republicans themselves attempted a similar maneuver three years ago.

After two failed attempts, the GOP-led House voted 214-213 on Feb. 6 for an impeachment resolution authored by Georgia Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene. Citing the Biden administration’s immigration policies, they accused Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.” California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock noted, however, that the articles “fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.”

At the time, several Senate Republicans denounced impeachment as time wasting. North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer called it “the dumbest exercise and use of time,” telling HuffPost the articles were “obviously dead on arrival” in the Senate. 

Worried that the Senate would not hold a lengthy trial, House Republicans delayed transmitting the articles for more than two months before finally delivering them on April 16. 

A day later, after Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt blocked a Democratic proposal to allow a few hours for a trial, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) raised points of order that both impeachment articles were unconstitutional. 

Though Senate rules prohibited debate on Schumer’s motions, Republican senators took turns denouncing it and offering motions to hold a longer debate or adjourn. One senator proposed to adjourn until April 30. After that motion failed, another proposed to adjourn until May 1. A third attempted to adjourn until November. Each motion failed 51-49, along party lines.

“Our colleagues know that we are obligated to take these proceedings seriously. This is what our oath prescribes. It’s what the history and precedent require, and I would urge each of our colleagues to consider that this is what the framers actually envisioned,” argued Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “This process must not be abused; it must not be short-circuited. History will not judge this moment well.”

McConnell had joined 44 Republican colleagues on January 26, 2021, in voting to table articles of impeachment charging former President Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul had made that motion, arguing it was unconstitutional to try someone who is no longer in office.

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines was one of the 45 senators who voted to skip the 2021 impeachment trial. 

After the Senate voted to reject both articles of impeachment against Mayorkas and to adjourn, Daines said in a press release: “Senate Democrats chose to sweep this crisis under the rug, ignore the Senate’s constitutional duty and deny the American people a trial into the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas. Every Senate Democrat proved that they would rather turn a blind eye to the failures of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas than hold them accountable for endangering the safety of the American people.”

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said in his own press release: “What’s happening at our southern border is completely unacceptable, and the Biden Administration must do more to keep Montana and our country safe. Montanans want real solutions that secure the border, not partisan games from D.C. politicians. I agree with my Republican colleagues who have said this exercise is a distraction that fails to make our country safer. It’s time for President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to use their remaining executive authorities to help secure our border, and for Congress to pass bipartisan border security legislation to give law enforcement the resources and policy changes they have said they need to get the job done.”