Senate Wraps Up Impeachment Trial
The Senate wrapped up its impeachment trial of President Donald Trump last week. While senators will not vote on the articles of impeachment until 4:00 pm on Wednesday, February 5, they nevertheless adjudicated important questions over witnesses and documents and, by unanimous consent, locked-in the schedule for the rest of the trial.
Senators Block Votes on Witnesses and Documents
It all started when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., put the Senate into a prolonged quorum call at the end of the four hours previously set aside for argument by the parties.
Quorum Call
Any senator may trigger a quorum call by suggesting the absence of a quorum, or a majority of its members, on the Senate floor. Under the Constitution, the Senate cannot conduct business without a quorum. Article I, section 5, clause 1, stipulates that "a Majority of each [house] shall constitute a Quorum to do Business.” In a quorum call, the presiding officer directs the clerk to call the roll when a senator suggests that a quorum is not present. If a majority of senators do not respond to their name by the end of the roll, the Senate adjourns. But clerks, reading slowly, rarely get to the end of the roll. Instead, senators routinely call off quorum calls by unanimous consent. The Senate rarely finishes a quorum call because senators typically use them to temporarily suspend the Senate's business so that they may negotiate with one another.
When McConnell called off the quorum call, and the Senate resumed its proceedings, he acknowledged that he was in talks with Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to wrap up the trial, stating, “the Democratic leader and I have had an opportunity to have a discussion.” McConnell and Schumer agreed during the quorum call to continue their talks after the Senate voted on whether to allow the parties to subpoena witnesses and documents.
The supplemental rules package, approved by senators at the beginning of the trial, did not spell out what would happen after senators’ 16-hour period for questions and the parties’ four-hour period of argument. It stipulated only that “other motions provided under the impeachment rules shall be in order” if the Senate voted to block witnesses and documents. If the Senate voted to allow witnesses and documents, the supplemental rules stipulated only that witnesses “shall first be deposed and the Senate shall decide after deposition which witnesses shall testify.” All of this would happen without debate once the Senate concluded its vote. In either case, the Senate's standing impeachment rules would govern the rest of the trial.
McConnell and Schumer agreed to temporarily suspend that process so that they could figure out how to wrap up the trial without following the impeachment rules. After the quorum call, McConnell informed his colleagues of what would happen next.
“We will now cast a vote on the witness question. Once that vote is complete, I would ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.”
After McConnell’s announcement, the Senate voted 49-51 on the question of whether to allow the parties to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents. In short, the Senate voted to block witnesses and documents.
Senators Allow Votes on Witnesses and Documents
Following senators’ vote to block witnesses and documents, the Senate recessed from 5:42 pm to 7:13 pm, during which time McConnell and Schumer resumed their talks over how to wrap up the trial. The two leaders eventually agreed on a process whereby McConnell would propose a new supplemental rules package (S. Res. 488), the provisions of which would govern the trial from that point until its end. The resolution scheduled final arguments in the trial to begin at 11:00 am on Monday, February 3. It also stipulated that the Senate shall vote on the articles of impeachment on Wednesday, February 5, at 4:00 pm.
In addition, McConnell and Schumer agreed to reverse the Senate’s prior decision to block votes on witnesses and documents. Under their agreement, Schumer, or his designee, would be permitted to propose a limited number of motions (in the form of amendments to S. Res. 488). Senators then codified the McConnell-Schumer agreement by unanimous consent. Propounded on the floor by McConnell, it stipulated that
“the Democratic leader or designee be allowed to offer up to four amendments to the resolution; further, that I be recognized to make a motion to table the amendment after it has been reported with no intervening action or debate.”
The Votes
Under the unanimous consent agreement, Schumer, or his designee, were allowed to offer up to four amendments to S. Res. 488. Information for each amendment and its disposition is listed below.
Schumer Amendment No. 1295 would have subpoenaed testimony from John Robert Bolton, John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, Michael P. Duffey, and Robert Blair. The amendment would have also subpoenaed documents related to the allegations from Mulvaney, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense. The Senate tabled (or defeated) the Schumer amendment by a 53-47 vote.
Schumer Amendment No. 1296 would have subpoenaed John Robert Bolton. The Senate tabled the Schumer amendment by a 51-49 vote.
Schumer Amendment No. 1297 would have also subpoenaed Bolton. However, the amendment specified procedures for deposing him and placed limits on how long the process could last. The Senate tabled the Schumer amendment by a 51-49 vote.
Van Hollen Amendment No. 1298 would have empowered the Chief Justice to issue subpoenas for “any witness or document that a senator or a party moves to subpoena” if the Chief Justice “determines that the witness or document is likely to have probative evidence to either article of impeachment.” The Senate tabled the Van Hollen amendment by a 53-47 vote.
After disposing of the amendments, the Senate then wrapped up the trial by adopting S. Res. 488 by a 53-47 vote.