Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment

of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial

justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God.

Hi and welcome back to Anacos. This is Slates podcast about the courts and the law and the

rule of law. And the impeachment trial, I had to confess to my editors this week that

the main reason I was personally glued to the screen watching Chief Justice John Roberts

swearing in the members of the Senate for the opening of Donald Trump's impeachment

trial on Thursday was because I had been covering the court for two decades and I had never

seen the man's legs. It was amazing. It was like watching Oscar the Grouch just hop up

and walk out of his garbage can and I for one found that thrilling. Related, if you think

about it for a minute, this impeachment that we are involved in now is at base about

election interference. The reason we cannot put off dealing with the president's actions

until this coming November is that for the second time that we know of, he's tried to

affect the outcome of an election by asking a foreign power to dig up dirt on arrival. And

we cannot wait for the election because he's doing that right now with this very election.

So next week we're going to start to bring you a special series of Anacos that is going

to ask tough questions about the very integrity of U.S. elections. Election law professor Rick

Casson is going to try to help us map out the serious issues and challenges facing this

too often overlooked institution. Just voting. Next week the behind the scene story of what

happened with the president's now defunct voter fraud commission, spoiler, bonkers, and you

will hear about a stunning cross examination that buttoned up probably the most significant

voting rights case of the 21st century so far. We're going to be releasing special election

...