Full Senate expected to adopt Rules of Impeachment today

The full Senate is expected to adopt today, Monday, the 28-page Rules of Impeachment that two joint Senate committees adopted Friday for the trial of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who was impeached by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives for alleged commission of felonies, corruption, and neglect of duty.

During Friday’s meeting, the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Government, Law and Federal Relations, chaired by Sen. Karl R. King-Nabors (R-Tinian), and Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations, chaired by Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz (R-Tinian), unanimously voted to adopt the Impeachment Rules, with amendments.

Shortly after the joint committees’ adoption of the Rules of Impeachment, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) introduced Friday a resolution that seeks full Senate approval to adopt the rules.

Hofschneider

Hofschneider also set a special session for today at 1:30pm, during which the full Senate is going to tackle the rules.

Last Jan. 12, the House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 22-14 that Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) introduced, impeaching Torres.

Last Jan. 27, the Senate president tasked the two joint committees to look into the impeachment resolution and formulate the rules to guide the impeachment hearing process.

Cruz presided over Friday’s joint committees’ meeting.

In creating the rules, King-Nabors said they took account a previous resolution provided by Sens. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) and Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan), which proposes to use in Torres’ trial the Impeachment Rules of Procedure that the 18th Senate had adopted in 2013 for the impeachment of then-governor Benigno R. Fitial.

King-Nabors also denied that they are trying to prolong this process. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. What we really want to do is be transparent and be accountable for the information that’s provided,” he said.

He said in their proposed rules, there is a lengthy description on what the joint committees have considered to be acceptable as House impeachment records.

King-Nabors said the proposed rules also further verifies the manner by which the Senate is willing to accept House impeachment documents to avoid what’s called “document dumping” that he said is a common practice in almost any jurisdictions.

“I’m just going to give you the document and it’s on you now to sift through the information and figure out what is heads or tails,” the senator said.

King-Nabors said their joint committees have gone through great lengths to specify and really put a fine point on how they want these documents provided to the Senate.

He said it is not because they want to be overly meticulous or want to dictate to the House anything above and beyond what is acceptable but in the spirit of expediency and transparency.

“It will only be right that we are able to accept this information in a fashion by which that we can now sift through it in a timely fashion and get to the crux of every assertion,” he said.

The senator said this was missing in the previous iterations of the Impeachment Rules and that he cannot speak to that as to why.

He said their joint committees feel that this is the best course of action for them to proceed forward and to be able to go through the information and provide the best assessment of that information with regards to what is being asserted.

King-Nabors cited Rule 5 of their proposed Impeachment Rules that refers to proof of burden at the hearing, which was not present in any previous Impeachment Rules. He said they feel that it is imperative because this is now the compass that will guide the Senate in this decision.

“Not only are we hearing the evidence, but we need guidance as to what threshold has to be met to convict or acquit. And this was lacking in the previous documentation,” said the senator, referring to the rules in Fitial’s case.

King-Nabors also noted that what the joint committees did was make a comprehensive impeachment document that can be used not just for one individual but to provide a template for impeachment in the Executive Branch and the Judiciary.

“So this is really a comprehensive document,” he said.

Sen. Victor B. Hocog (R-Rota) moved for the adoption of the Impeachment Rules. Sens. Hocog, King-Nabors, Cruz, Vinnie Sablan, and Justo Quitugua voted “yes.”