Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days
– Article I, Section 5
OK then, does that not mean that the House could call the Senate back into session to hold the impeachment trial? Right now?
I'm aware of the argument that the Senate's pro forma session supposedly means that they're not technically in recess, but if that were really true, it would mean that with trivial effort the Senate can render the Article 1 Section 5 meaningless. So I think that argument doesn't hold up. (It is even less well-supported than a recent court decision that pro forma sessions prevent recess appointments.) Of course Senate Majority Leader McConnell could bring the Senate back yet refuse to hold a trial, or he could not bother reconvening at all, with little procedural recourse available to the House. But regardless, the political pressure on McConnell would be enormous, and in terms of accountability for Senate Republicans, it's important to make them go public with their refusal and to openly side with failing white supremacist dictatorship rather than pretending otherwise, if that's what their immoral political calculus leads.
That Donald remains president even one more day is an intolerable risk to the United states and to the world. It is an intolerable injustice to all Americans, especially to minorities and women, who face even worse danger from violent bigots and misogynists than was already too typical. On top of all that, there is a significant likelihood that the president, in a last, desperate attempt to keep power, could again force a violent confrontation. Does anyone think that he’ll just pack it in and go home on Wednesday? If Donald does force another coup attempt, we might not be so lucky to escape a much larger catastrophe as we were on Jan. 6th,. To be ready in case anything else happens, we need the House Democratic majority to corner the Senate into a position such that they would convict and remove expeditiously.
I have to say, I’m also terrified that between Biden’s “look forward, not backward” predilections (perhaps as bad as Obama’s) and Speaker Pelosi’s extreme reluctance to deploy impeachment unless politically forced to, the odds of impeachment happening after Donald is out (if we’re so lucky)—and especially the odds after 100 days—are not good.
No more ruinous conflict-aversion, no more accommodation of white supremacists, no more appeasement of a fascist, not even for another hour. We need the country to have a reckoning with white supremacism and with this outrageous tyrannical president, right now. Please call upon your representative today to revoke consent for Senate adjournment and to send over the article of impeachment, in order to address our dire national emergency.
This goes to why I try so hard to pry people away from deference to the judgement of establishment Democratic leaders like Pelosi and Senate Minority (soon to be Majority) leader Schumer. It’s not personal, and I’ll praise where praise is due (like for the unusually righteous Jan. 2019 shutdown fight over racist wall funding), it’s from years of largely consistent experience. For example, House leadership’s judgment about Jan. 6 was so bad that it nearly meant that a white supremacist mob assassinated them. They were separated from disaster by nothing but a few minutes, some brave and loyal souls among the Capitol police (unlike certain traitorous others on the force), and dumb luck. Leading Democratic congresspeople were so unprepared that it was only the quick thinking of a few staffers that saved the official electoral votes and allowed the certification to be completed that day. Can you imagine the mayhem had they not, even if there were other procedural fallbacks for later?
All to say: we should act on our own priorities and assessment. Now, can you imagine a House that sent the article of impeachment to the Senate posthaste and that called upon our social contract’s clear meaning to formally demand that the Senate hold the trial?
There is no such thing as Democratic “overreach” in America today. The idea of pushing too far is a physical impossibility. So let’s push for justice and accountability as far as we can.