Devils Lake Journal (ND) Does the U.S. Senate have the authority to hold an impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump? Good-faith arguments have been advanced by both sides in this growing debate, which invites close scrutiny of the scope of the Senate’s power under the Impeachment Clause. As with many constitutional controversies, resolution is aided by logic, common sense and history. Roughly 45 Republican Senators and various legal scholars maintain that the Senate’s authority under Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution to “try all Impeachments,” does not apply to Trump, now that he is a former president. The argument is that the principal question in an impeachment trial is whether to convict and remove a sitting president. That question has been rendered moot by the expiration of Trump’s term of office. In any case, the Senate may not try a private citizen.