From where I sit: Senate should call Corona's bluff

He went "all in" and the Senate should call his bluff. Cite him for contempt, terminate all further reception of evidence, take his waiver at face value, scrutinize his bank records in the privacy of the Senate conference rooms, and convene for a vote. By his walk-out, Corona has shown exactly the character, or lack of it, that is the issue writ large over this trial.  Under the Constitution, Corona is a respondent before the only tribunal that can try him on the sole question of removing him from office. Much as he would like to believe his own propaganda, there is no "separation of powers" issue because the rest of the Supreme Court is not being tried. What Corona is trying to do is shift the "battle" to the Court itself, as his most probable next move would be to ask for a restraining order against a Senate vote, subject to the question of whether a conditional waiver is proper. Remember he still "leads" the Court because he has neither resigned nor taken a leave. By doing so, Corona would hold the impeachment process and the truth hostage. If the Court does not dismiss the Corona petition that is still pending before it, then it would have taken the "bait" and would now bring it directly into a collision course with the impeachment process in the Senate.  The impeachment process is a test of the maturity of our political and judicial institutions. The Senate needs to complete its constitutionally-mandated duty -- to "try and decide" the impeachment complaint before it--and that means bringing this matter to a close by a vote. The Court needs to also discharge its constitutional duty which, in impeachment cases, is "none." The question of a removal from office through a guilty verdict rendered by an impeachment tribunal is not a matter that is subject to judicial review and the proper constitutional and judicial response to the Corona ploy is "avoidance." - GMA News