WASHINGTON (AP) – Senators like to float above messy politics in what’s known by some as the dignified “upper chamber,” home of Congress’ cooler heads and lofty rhetoric.
But as a court of President Donald Trump’s impeachment, the Senate beginning Tuesday might seem more like the economy cabin of an oversold flight on an especially tense, mandatory work trip.
Rock star legal teams will cram the airy well of the chamber just a few feet from each other and Chief Justice John Roberts. Four television screens take up rarified space. Staff will snap up seats near the wall. A podium stands at the center aisle.
As for phones, it’s worse than airplane mode: They are banned from the chamber. That maroons 100 chatty senators – including four Democrats in the heat of a nomination fight – for the serious constitutional business of the impeachment trial, for hours at a time.
“I’m going to be stuck in Washington for God knows how long,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told supporters in Des Moines Monday night.