2024?

Wonderland

You searched the world for something else
To make you feel like what we had
And in the end, in Wonderland
We both went mad

Are we living in Wonderland?

“Sentence first–verdict afterward”.  So cries the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.  We are supposed to view the Queen as deranged for stating this.  Of course you have a trial with a verdict first, and only then can you have a sentence.

The sentence for impeachment is removal from office, if in office, and a possible disqualification from holding a future office.  During Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, a number of Republican Senators apparently placed sentencing first.  Their rationale for finding Trump not guilty was that he was not currently in office.  They said that since the sentence did not apply,  the verdict of the trial had to be not impeached. They apparently were not paying attention to the vote of the senate on February 9^th , when the Senate voted 56 to 44 that a sentence could be applied because the offense happened while in office, and even though removal from office was a moot point, disqualification from future office was feasible.  Their justification for a finding of not guilty was that the removal from office did not apply.

Given that Donald Trump appears to be very definitely considering running for President again, is it not appropriate to ask for a mistrial, because so many Republican Senators acting as jurors seemed to mistake the sentencing for the verdict. This is the United States, not Wonderland.  We have a verdict first and sentence later . If the penalty for murder is execution, but a murder is committed by an immortal, does that means that he is not guilty of murder because he can’t be executed?