Like most Americans, I followed the completely partisan House Judiciary Committee vote on impeachment of President Donald Trump. None of the members of the San Diego delegation sit on the Judiciary Committee, so I have no local angle to report about that, but I did note that five members of the 24-member Democratic majority on the committee are fellow Jews: the chairman: Jerrold Nadler of New York, Steve Cohen of Tennessee; Ted Deutch of Florida, David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island, and Jeremy Raskin of Maryland. They all voted in the majority for impeachment. There are no Jewish members among the 17 committee Republicans, who voted in the minority against impeachment. When the issue comes to the House floor, two Jewish Republicans – Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee — will get to weigh in. Also waiting for the floor vote are 20 other Jewish Democrats, including Susan Davis of San Diego. Altogether there are 27 Jews eligible to vote in the 435-member House of Representatives on the impeachment question.
I was impressed by the solemnity with which members of both parties cast their votes in the Judiciary Committee. Despite all the partisan sniping between Republicans and Democrats, I think the members of both sides were aware that they were casting a very important vote on an issue that has seriously divided the country. The atmosphere was very heavy, appropriately so.
On the Senate side, where Republicans are in the majority, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he favors a quick vote on the matter, as he considers acquittal a done deal. Chairing the session will be Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed to his position by former President George W. Bush, who though a Republican is certainly no fan of President Trump. It will be interesting to see how assertive Roberts will be in running the trial. His decisions on procedure will stand unless overridden by a majority vote of the 100-member U.S. Senate.
If this were a usual trial, many of the “jurors” would be disqualified for conflicts of interest. Some may feel that their own political futures are on the line. McConnell himself has a clear conflict of interest in the fact that his wife, Elaine Chao, is Secretary of Transportation in the Trump Cabinet, who could be fired by the President at any time.
There are nine Jewish senators, including California’s own Dianne Feinstein, who would participate in a trial, assuming the House approves the impeachment resolutions. Talk about possible conflicts of interest, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is one of the frontrunning candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Before Michael Bennet of Colorado dropped out of the presidential race, he had a similar conflict of interest. Bennet is Jewish as a matter of halakha as he is the son of a Jewish mother, who survived the Holocaust, and a Christian father. However, he has expressed himself ambivalently on the issue of his religion. He has said he was influenced by both religions and “believes in God.”
Finally, if any of the impeachment issues in the future are to be adjudicated by the Supreme Court, three of the nine justices are Jewish. All appointed by Democratic presidents, they are Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan.
Republished from San Diego Jewish World