Mayorkas impeachment is historic – but less for high crimes than for low politics

The homeland security secretary is the first cabinet official since 1876 to be impeached but the case against is so flimsy a trial is not a given

In 1876, the last US cabinet official to be impeached, William Belknap, resigned before the House could vote on the matter. Ulysses S Grant's secretary of war was tried in the Senate anyway, on charges of corruption, but escaped conviction.

Nearly 150 years later, in the House on Tuesday and at the second time of asking, Republicans corralled just enough votes to ensure Joe Biden's secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, suffered Belknap's fate. But Mayorkas has not resigned - and nor is he likely to be convicted and removed.