Can senators set aside bias and rule on the evidence?

To The Daily Sun,

A dear friend, Penny, is a co-administrator of mine in a Facebook group we developed. She recently asked Watergate attorney Jill Wine-Banks about the issue of senators being impartial jurors in an impeachment trial. If Trump tries to influence GOP senators, isn’t that considered jury tampering? The answer should concern us.

Penny asked, “How are the American people supposed to expect a guilty verdict in the senate impeachment trial (if that’s what the evidence shows) when Trump is donating thousands of dollars to re-election campaigns and Lindsey Graham has done nothing but rail against the Democrats and the impeachment inquiry while spouting the president’s innocence? Judges don’t let people sit on juries if they believe they won’t be impartial or that the defendant has paid those jurors. How can this trial be fair to the American people if the Republican majority of senators can’t or won’t be impartial? Can they come to a verdict based on the evidence rather than on their fear of losing favor with Trump’s base or losing money for their campaign needs? Is it possible for senators to be recused for not being impartial or taking campaign money from Trump?”

Watergate attorney Jill Wine-Banks responded, “You’ve asked a great question that has no answer. Not much about impeachment has been reviewed by courts. Senators will always have a bias, just as jurors may. The test is whether they can set it aside and render a verdict on the basis of the evidence. So far, it does not look like Republicans can do that and the country will suffer for that.”

That answer addresses the current mindset of GOP senators. I am frightened that these senators will throw caution to the wind, ignore their sworn duty and side with Trump. Chief Justice Roberts will literally be between “the devil and the deep blue sea.” Pun completely intended! How he controls the trial and addresses senators’ comments, if he leaves his party affiliation outside the Senate Chamber, and how he interprets the U.S. Constitution will all be determining factors of the final outcome of the impeachment trial.

Bernadette Loesch

Laconia