Under the Constitution, in case of a vacancy in
the office of President, the Vice-President succeeds, and it was
doubtless thought prudent and befitting that the next in succession
should not preside in a proceeding through which a vacancy might be
created.
It is not doubted that the Senate, while sitting in its ordinary
capacity, must necessarily receive from the House of Representatives
some notice of its intention to impeach the President at its bar,
but it does not seem to me an unwarranted opinion, in view of this
constitutional provision, that the organization of the Senate as
a court of impeachment, under the Constitution, should precede the
actual announcement of the impeachment on the part of the House.
And it may perhaps be thought a still less unwarranted opinion that
articles of impeachment should only be presented to a court of
impeachment; that no summons or other process should issue except
from the organized court, and that rules for the government of the
proceedings of such a court should be framed only by the court itself.
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