With the holidays behind us, it’s time for Congress to get back to business. And in the House of Representatives, that business is still largely consumed by impeachment. (At least when the Democrats aren’t trying to bar Trump from fighting with Iran.) But is the Democratic majority truly open for business? Possibly not, since Speaker Nancy Pelosi has once again demurred when being asked if she planned on sending the articles of impeachment over to the Senate any time soon.

That may not mean that we’re in a holding pattern forever, however. Lindsey Graham has obviously grown tired of Pelosi stalling for time and thinks he knows a way around it. If the Speaker won’t follow the spirt of the rules in the House, the GOP can simply change the wording of the rules in the Senate. (Fox News)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insists that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not deliver articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate by the end of the week, the Senate should “take matters in our own hands.”

Graham accused Pelosi of playing political games and trying to exert control over the Senate trial by keeping it from starting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized Friday on the Senate floor the chamber’s rules prevented him from doing anything until Pelosi does her part, but Graham proposed a solution that could remove what McConnell has called an “impasse” in the process.

“What I would do, if she continues to refuse to send the articles as required by the Constitution, I would work with Senator McConnell to change the rules of the Senate so we could start the trial without her, if necessary,” Graham proposed.

While this isn’t guaranteed to succeed by any means (assuming some GOP fence-sitters), Graham’s proposal is by no means crazy, nor is it unconstitutional. The one error he makes during this interview, however, is to refer to the delivery of the articles as being constitutionally required. It’s not. As we discussed here back when Pelosi first slammed on the brakes last month, the Constitution is rather thin on details when it comes to the nuts and bolts of how impeachment works. Nor is there much in the way of any federal law setting forth any rules. It’s pretty much left up to the internal rules of each chamber.

In the case of the Senate, they are (mostly) bound by their own impeachment rules, unless Cocaine Mitch decides to go totally rogue and ignore them. You can read those rules here.

The portion that’s holding things up is found in the very first paragraph. It reads, “Whensoever the Senate shall receive notice from the House of Representatives that managers are appointed on their part to conduct an impeachment against any person and are directed to carry articles of impeachment to the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate shall immediately inform the House of Representatives that the Senate is ready to receive the managers for the purpose of exhibiting such articles of impeachment, agreeably to such notice.”

In other words, the Senate bound its own hands by saying that the action wouldn’t kick off until the House managers had been appointed and directed to deliver the articles. But, as I mentioned above, those are just internal Senate rules. The members can change those rules any time they like with a simple majority vote and the House doesn’t get a say in it. If Graham drafts a new first paragraph saying something along the lines of, “Whensoever the Senate learns that the House of Representatives has voted to impeach any person…” and McConnell can round up 50 or 51 votes for it, the issue becomes moot. The revised rule could go on to say that the Senate will invite the House to send impeachment managers should they wish to do so, but not make it a requirement. The new rules could completely avoid mentioning the articles as physical documents.

Such provisions probably should, or at least could have been built into the rules originally. But back then, nobody imagined that a Speaker would go through the drastic step of voting for impeachment and then just sit on the articles as a political stunt for the cameras. We’re living in interesting times now, however, and all bets are off.