Sen. Mike Lee has undermined his duty to serve in a juror-like capacity during an impeachment trial by declaring, pre-trial, that the accused “has done nothing wrong,” according to a Dec. 19 post on his Facebook page.
Were a juror to make such a pretrial declaration in any other context, that juror would be promptly dismissed.
The argument that this is a “political trial,” and therefore typical notions of due process are inapplicable, is non-compelling. While every senator will approach this trial with some level of predisposition, affirmatively declaring pretrial that the accused “has done nothing wrong” stretches that assumed predisposition past the breaking point due process requires — even in a political context.
As a self-proclaimed constitutional expert, Lee would never permit this level of constitutional mangling in any other context.
If he believes the articles of impeachment filed by the House are a sham, that only increases the need for a procedurally sound Senate trial. At minimum, that procedure requires a jury free of such blatant partiality.
Senators from either party who are unable or unwilling to serve in a juror-like capacity free of inflexible pretrial predispositions — which would appear to include Lee — should recuse themselves from that duty.
Adam Reiser, Millcreek