When the U.S. Senate reconvenes Tuesday, it will begin the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
The upper chamber of Congress will look to Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who kicked off her legal career in South Royalton, to execute some of the nitty gritty details of a procedure that has only been used twice before in the nation’s history.
A 1998 graduate of Vermont Law School, MacDonough is tasked with being the referee of the Senate. And while her role is largely behind the scenes, her advice on the procedures of the chamber can have major impacts on the outcome of top issues.
MacDonough goes into one of the most unprecedented chapters of congressional history with a sterling reputation for nonpartisan rulings.
“She has credibility that is 10 feet deep on both sides of the aisle for her rulings,” VLS constitutional law professor Peter Teachout said Thursday. “That is something that is difficult to attain anyway but certainly in this highly partisan climate.”
In day-to-day operations, parliamentarians are specialists in the procedures of an institution — in which, Teachout noted, even small things like how to phrase a ruling can be tricky.
“I have chaired a school board meeting and I wished I had a parliamentarian available,” he said.
Teachout, who taught MacDonough and has since spoken with her at various VLS events, described her as a “solid, sensible student.” Her trajectory to institutional guard of the upper chamber of Congress has wowed him.
The parliamentarian’s office does not speak with the media as a policy. But in 2018, when MacDonough delivered the commencement address at VLS, she shared experiences from her early years in the office, which she joined as an assistant parliamentarian in 1999.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., whom she described as “the true guru of all things Senate procedure,” would stop by the office and quiz her on the chamber’s rules and procedures.
“I would struggle to answer, pick up a rule book, and Sen. Byrd would say something really encouraging like, ‘You won’t find the answer in there,’” MacDonough told VLS graduates.
“It was a humbling and horrible way to start every day,” she said. “As terrifying as those interactions were, they were critical to my development. I needed a better command of the basics and Sen. Byrd’s Socratic method on steroids forced me to make that happen.”
Through her tenure in the office, MacDonough earned the respect of lawmakers — including, she said in her address, eventually Byrd. She was appointed parliamentarian in 2012, making her the first woman to hold the position, by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Current Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has kept her in the job since 2014.
In her time in the office, she’s ruled on procedural issues that have proven consequential to the outcomes — including a key ruling that steered the ultimately unsuccessful Republican-led effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That issue, along with tax reform and others, made 2017 “a procedural juggernaut,” she said in her VLS speech.
Her advice can also be overruled — as Senate Democrats did in 2013. When the Senate eliminated the 60-vote threshold for all presidential nominees but those for the Supreme Court, she said in her speech, it was “a stinging defeat that I tried not to take personally.” The same situation emerged four years later, when Senate Republicans removed the threshold for Supreme Court appointments.
Even through a period that has brought challenging decisions, MacDonough has maintained respect from across the political spectrum.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., dean of the Senate, said Sunday that it is at those times when the Senate encounters unusual procedural issues that the parliamentarian’s role is particularly important.
“Some of the things they rule on are routine, other things are arcane,” Leahy said. “And it’s the arcane ones where you need a parliamentarian you can trust.”
MacDonough’s role and her highly regarded reputation will be particularly important in the coming weeks, Leahy said.
“This is only the third impeachment trial we’ve had in this country’s history of a president and you have to have somebody who can step back from the extremely partisan way a lot of the Senate has become,” Leahy said Sunday. “And she’s the perfect person.”
Former majority whip Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Politico earlier this month that MacDonough is “tough.” “She calls them straight down the middle.”
MacDonough who is accustomed to operating in the Senate’s wings, will be in the spotlight more than usual this week.
MacDonough and her small staff will rely on two main sources through the trial, according to Teachout. A series of rules on impeachment procedures were put together in the 1980s, which were expanded during the 1998-99 impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton. If those rules don’t address questions that come up, the parliamentarian will look to decisions in previous impeachments for guidance.
Through the impeachment trial in the Senate, Chief Justice John Roberts will be the presiding officer, and ultimately, rulings on any procedural issues will come from him. But, VLS professor Jared Carter noted, MacDonough is much more familiar with the ways of the Senate than the Supreme Court chief justice is, and he’ll look to her for advice.
“She’s critical,” Carter said. “Her role I don’t think can be overstated.”
“And there’s not much precedent, obviously, for this,” he noted.
Some rules are clear; per decorum guidelines, senators cannot speak or use electronics while on the floor during the trial.
But, according to VLS professor Jennifer Taub, there are many uncertainties about how the proceedings will play out.
“I think there are more gray areas right now than there are black and white areas,” Taub said.
Questions will likely arise around whether witnesses can be called, and if so, which witnesses. Similarly, whether documents will be admitted to the proceedings has yet to be determined. As Roberts is confronted with decisions about the proceedings, MacDonough will be a key source of advice.
“The Senate parliamentarian plays a key yet almost invisible role in how this impeachment will proceed,” Taub said.
For Vermont Law School staff, the rise of one of the school’s alums to the quietly high-impact office in Congress is a point of pride.
Carter sees MacDonough’s work in the Senate as in line with the bent of Vermont Law School, which he described as a “mission-oriented law school.”
“Really her work as a parliamentarian is public interest work,” he said. “Her client is essentially the institution of the Senate.”
