The Constitution makes him _sole judge_ in
the premises, but the statute takes away his jurisdiction, transfers
it to the Senate, and leaves him nothing but the odious and sometimes
impracticable duty of becoming a _prosecutor_. The prosecution is to be
conducted before a tribunal whose members are not, like him, responsible
to the whole people, but to separate constituent bodies, and who may
hear his accusation with great disfavor. The Senate is absolutely
without any known standard of decision applicable to such a case. Its
judgment can not be anticipated, for it is not governed by any rule.
The law does not define what shall be deemed good cause for removal.
It is impossible even to conjecture what may or may not be so considered
by the Senate. The nature of the subject forbids clear proof. If the
charge be incapacity, what evidence will support it? Fidelity to the
Constitution may be understood or misunderstood in a thousand different
ways, and by violent party men, in violent party times, unfaithfulness
to the Constitution may even come to be considered meritorious.
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