A friend pointed this out to me. The U.S. Constitution says this in Article I, Section 3, Paragraph 6 (emphasis mine):
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Recent articles I’ve read mention 67 as the magic number, because there are 100 Senators. If you do the math, 67 is two thirds of 100. Right?
We might not need 67 votes, however.
Look at the wording: “two thirds of the Members present.” Suppose one or more Senators die of a heart attack and aren’t immediately replaced. Or they’re in the hospital in a coma. Or they just don’t show up for the vote and hide out in the mountains of West Virginia or the swamps of Louisiana. Whatever the reason, they’re not present.
If only 99 Senators are present, two thirds would be 66 votes – not 67. If 81 are present, two thirds would be 54 (although I think it’s unlikely that 19 would skip the vote). I wonder if a few Republican Senators might decide not to show up for the vote. Perhaps they don’t like Trump, but don’t want to go on the record with a vote for or against.
I’m not an expert on Senate rules. I know they need 51 for a quorum. They need three fifths (60 votes) for a cloture call. If not all Senators are not present, the Sergeant at Arms can compel members to return for a vote, if they can be found. It might get complicated and weird if the vote is really close.
It’s something to think about. I suspect my friend might have gotten the idea from the internet somewhere. She’s not a lawyer, but she’s very excited to Trump impeached and convicted.