Be careful what you wish for.
Almost certainly the answer is no, but Rand Paul can take all of the suspense out of it. Senate Republicans have begun rallying around a constitutional argument that the upper chamber lacks jurisdiction to try private citizens, even if impeached while in federal office. Heavy con-law hitters like Jonathan Turley, Alan Dershowitz, and J. Michael Luttig have provided them with ammunition for opposing any trial of Donald Trump. Now Paul wants to dispense with the trial by forcing a point-of-order vote sometime today: The Kentucky Republican plans to raise a point of order with the Senate parliamentarian Tuesday afternoon, just moments before senators are set to be sworn in for Trump’s second impeachment trial. His attempt is certain to fail, but the final tally could foreshadow the possibility that Trump will be convicted, which requires support from two-thirds of the chamber. “I think there will be enough support on it to show there’s no chance they can impeach the president,” Paul told reporters. “If 34 people support my resolution that this is an unconstitutional proceeding, it shows they don’t have the votes and we’re basically wasting our time.” True enough, but I’m not sure it tells us much that we can’t already guess. Democrats will have 50 votes to defeat it, and Kamala Harris on hand to break any ties. We’re pretty sure that there won’t be enough Senate Republicans for a conviction already; there may only be five or six willing to cast that kind of a vote, which would be historic enough. Dershowitz was Trump’s impeachment attorney the first time around, so his opinion this time doesn’t provide much cover for the jurisdictional demurral, but Turley and Luttig have a bit more heft. All this does is put everyone on the record just a bit earlier than otherwise. Or is that all this will do? A point-of-order vote might end up being a double-edged sword for Republicans.
