, Columnist
Alexander Hamilton Had Faith in a ‘Dignified’ Senate Trial
Maybe too much.
History has its eyes on you.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Senator McConnell, meet Alexander Hamilton.
In the last weeks, a lot of people who followed the hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives became familiar with Hamilton’s definition of an impeachable offense as “the abuse or violation of some public trust.” But nearly everyone has neglected Hamilton’s brisk, essential discussion of the obligations of the U.S. Senate in impeachment trials – a discussion that casts a bright light on what Republicans and Democrats are obliged to do.