I have found myself unable to come to any other conclusions than these.
I can assign no reason for requiring the Senate to organize as a court
under any other than its ordinary presiding officer for the latter
proceedings upon an impeachment of the President which does not seem
to me to apply equally to the earlier.
I am informed that the Senate has proceeded upon other views, and it is
not my purpose to contest what its superior wisdom may have directed.
All good citizens will fervently pray that no occasion may ever arise
when the grave proceedings now in progress will be cited as a precedent;
but it is not impossible that such an occasion may come.
Inasmuch, therefore, as the Constitution has charged the Chief Justice
with an important function in the trial of an impeachment of the
President, it has seemed to me fitting and obligatory, where he is
unable to concur in the views of the Senate concerning matters essential
to the trial, that his respectful dissent should appear.
S.
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