Nancy Pelosi, Not Trump, Is Provoking A Constitutional Crisis
By refusing to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, Pelosi is asserting the primacy of the Democrat-controlled House over the GOP-led Senate.
John Daniel Davidson
By John Daniel Davidson
December 20, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision not to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial on the pretext that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t conduct the trial in a manner approved by House Democrats introduces a novel and dangerous dynamic to the impeachment of President Trump—namely, a constitutional crisis, not between the legislative and executive branches, but between the House and the Senate.
Under the Constitution, the House has the sole power of impeachment and the Senate has the sole power of conducting a trial. Although the Constitution doesn’t say the House must go through a formal process of “transmitting†the articles of impeachment to the Senate, precedent and Senate rules dictate that the Senate does not take up measures passed in the House until they have been certified and transmitted, and that it won’t take up an impeachment trial until the House appoints impeachment managers (or prosecutors) for the trial.
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https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/20/nancy-pelosi-not-trump-is-provoking-a-constitutional-crisis/
