Connie Mack: “Mr. Chief Justice, today the Senate finds itself at an unlikely crossroads in American history. We have assembled as a…”

“Mr. Chief Justice, today the Senate finds itself at an unlikely crossroads in American history. We have assembled as a court of impeachment to sit in judgement of our President, William Jefferson Clinton, on the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. We have worked our will in this matter according to a process rooted in English common law, written by our Founders into the Constitution, and exercised against the Chief Executive only once before in American history. This is not a task to be taken lightly, and we have not arrived easily at our decision. The Senate today is engaged in weighty struggles that go to the very heart of our private and public lives. We are at an unlikely juncture between principle and public opinion, repentance and the rule of law, perception and punishment, forgiveness and findings of fact. These are difficult issues, Mr. Chief Justice. We approach our task fully aware that our decisions today will reverberate across this great land and throughout the length and breadth of history. There has been much discussion about how we got here. And while the answer to that question may be varied in all its permutations, then amplified in the echo-chamber that is our modern public debate, it can be said with assurance that this whole unseemly business began when the President, caught in an improper private act, took deliberate steps to conceal it.”