So the framers came up with a solution: They assigned the impeachment power to the House and the power to try impeachments to the Senate. To the Supreme Court, the framers reserved an almost exclusively ceremonial role in impeachment, assigning the chief justice to preside over the president’s trial in the Senate. In addition, our increasingly broad and unwieldy law-enforcement and investigative apparatus has given today’s Supreme Court many more opportunities to supervise criminal investigations and prosecutions. As a result, with Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings set to begin just as pressure to impeach President Trump palpably mounts, the framers’ attempt to guard against the court’s bias has failed. The slowly mounting chorus of senators calling for a pause in Kavanaugh’s confirmation would have resonated strongly with the framers.

Source: Washington Post August 24, 2018 21:56 UTC