While Mayorkas’s impeachment was quickly dismissed, its politics may not be. The impeachment that was a start-and-stop process in the House became a stop-before-it-starts one in the Senate.

The case’s elements were obscured — clear to proponents’ perspective and reversely so to opponents’ view — clouded in the conflicting collision. An airing, even of short duration, would have brought some general clarity. It was not to be, as each Democrat voted to dismiss both articles of impeachment.

Unlike impeachment’s truncated Senate process, its politics could last much longer and be far messier for many Senate Democrats between now and November.

On their second try, House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on a party-line vote in February. The two impeachment articles stated Mayorkas "has repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security," "knowingly” made “false statements to Congress and the American people” and avoided “lawful oversight in order to obscure the devastating consequences of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and carry out his statutory duties."

Senate Democrats asserted that no impeachable offenses had been committed, while the Biden administration dismissed the impeachment as political........

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