The Mayorkas Impeachment Trial in the Senate

After voting to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the House of Representatives delivered articles of impeachment to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY). What should we expect from the Senate impeachment trial for President Biden’s DHS Secretary?

Fox News reports on the impeachment trial:

House impeachment managers officially delivered two articles of impeachment passed against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

After delaying the planned delivery last week and pushing it to Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., directed impeachment managers to bring the long-anticipated articles to the Senate, which will set off a number of procedural actions.

In February, the House voted to impeach DHS Mayorkas, although only by a one-vote margin. An impeachment is like an indictment. It’s only the first step in the removal process. Now a trial must take place in the Senate to decide if DHS Mayorkas will retain his Cabinet post.

However, the Senators can file a motion for dismissal – much like a judge could dismiss a case before a trial – before the hearings occur. The Senate doesn’t require a supermajority to dismiss. A simple 51-49 vote would be sufficient. However, it would require a supermajority to convict Secretary Mayorkas.

Sen. Schumer has already announced that he will move to have the impeachment trial dismissed before the impeachment managers present any evidence. Also, even if the trial occurs, I don’t see a pathway for a 2/3 vote for removal since the Democrats control the Senate.

So is it worth going through the impeachment process knowing that the Senate will likely kill the trial? I’d argue that it’s still significant that the House passed the articles of impeachment because it got on the record that the border crisis is a crisis. The ACLJ has sounded the alarm time and again about the dangers of an open border, including filing a FOIA request against Biden’s mishandling of the border. We’ll find out soon what the Senate decides.

I’m excited to announce a new ACLJ victory. We told you how a track coach at an Indiana public school ordered his student-athletes not to pray before a track meet. We had filed a federal lawsuit against the school district on behalf of the Christian students, alleging that a track coach interfered with the rights of student-athletes to pray before a track meet.

We are pleased to report that within a day of the lawsuit being filed, we began working closely with school officials, through counsel, to resolve this matter in a swift fashion. Our amicable resolution of this case is not only in the best interests of our clients but also every Lake Central student – all of whom enjoy constitutional rights.

Per the settlement, the students’ First Amendment rights will be respected going forward, and the school will post a statement in the student handbook and on the school district’s website informing students of their free speech rights. The track coach will also issue a written apology to the students.

The ACLJ is pleased that the track athletes’ right to pray will no longer be infringed upon. And we applaud the school district for quickly resolving the issue and ensuring that the First Amendment rights of all the school’s students will be protected in the future.

Israel continues to face mounting pressure to not respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack last week. In fact, President Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu to just “take the win” since most of Iran’s drones were successfully shot down. Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon joined the show to comment on Biden’s public waning support of Israel:

No one’s pretending that this is not about domestic electoral concerns, about the extreme fringe of the Democratic Party, about Michigan and Minnesota. The moral debasement of our nation in turning its back on the Jewish state when it’s undergoing the worst atrocity since the Holocaust. . . . [Western nations] lack the moral knowledge, the moral decency, and the experience and survival to tell the Jewish state or to tell Jews anywhere how to survive.

The ACLJ continues to advocate for Israel despite the world turning its back on Israel. We just delivered a demand letter to the U.N. Secretary-General, and we are preparing to send letters to the E.U., foreign leaders, U.S. officials, and the U.N. Security Council as soon as TODAY. We want them to defend Israel, put sanctions on Iran, and stop the lawfare against Israel.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of the likelihood of DHS Secretary Mayorkas being removed. We also celebrated the ACLJ victory for the free speech rights of the Indiana student-athletes.

Watch the full broadcast below: