Lit Could the Senate remove Palpatine after proclaiming himself emperor or was it too late?

Well I was just reading about contingency Orders and apparently there is an Order 65 which states that if the Senate, or the Security Council deem Palpatine to be a threat they could turn the army agaisnt him.

Assume that when Palpatine addressed the Senate and announced the Empire, the Senate issued a massive "No, **** you". What would had happened then? Would Order 65 be activated? Or at that time it was too late even if every Senator refused?

 

It would have been a major chink in his plans but, by that point, the Senate was primarily composed of Palpatine's puppets.

We all know the Petition of 2000 was a complete bust even if there's only 1000 sectors.

 

Didn't the Dark Empire Sourcebook mention that it was at least sort of tried, with many Warlords digging up old Senators and trying to get them to support their regimes?

 

Which is my question, what if rather than acclamating him the senators stated to "Boooo" and demand him to step down after he announced the Galactic Empire? Yes he announced it in the film.

 

Sorry for that, I just want to know basically if for all the military powers the Senate granted Palpatine if they could had still removed him, even when he gives his speech here:



Or the Senate still had the power to remove him via Order 65?

 

Oh it properly still helps as armies need supplies and recruits and looking more legitimate tends to bring those.

 

Palpatine is a gambler, but he makes sure that he has better odds than anyone before betting.
He told the story of the Jedi being the bad guys, and tested the waters first with his speech. If the senators hadn't started clapping during it, he wouldn't have gone for the Empire part... yet.

Another option if the senators had booed at the declaration part: Oh dear, the Jedi blew up the entire Senate! Only Chancellor Palpatine survived miraculously! Says he has big plans for the future of the Republic! More at 10!

Edit: So that my post isn't just what-ifs:

Right, but that was a bit of too little, too late. Military power had already been established as more important than political legitimacy by that point.[/quote]
This discussion is lacking in eyes.
What about Trioculus? He was elected by a handful of Grand Moffs and Grand Admirals (part of the military power), but didn't have much of a power base in the Core Worlds where the bureaucracy and the Isard government ruled. So that was a case of too little military power.

 

The problem is Palpatine dissolved the Senate so theoricatelly the Empire was under no obligation to listen to a re-convened Senate. Now, if Palpatine was killed before the Senate was dissolved I am sure a new Emperor would had been choosen because it was among the duties of the Senate designated by Palpatine, perhaps the only one of real importance left.

Basically Palpatine was killed in the worst time possible to be killed, the only body with legal authority to choose a new Emperor was killed and the only one who would had been able to achieve unification (Vader) was killed as well, thus warlordism.

 

So at least legally and in theory, the Senate did had the power to stop Palpatine?

 

Well, did the Senate know about Order 65 or was that Palpatine's secret? To get Order 66 going Palps had to issue the order to execute it. If Order 65 were to be invoked who would do it?

 

The Contingency Orders were a public document apparently, not to mention there was a specific group of Senators that formed the Security Council which had that specific authority as well, they surely must have been briefed on the order.

 

Could the Senate have removed Palpatine?

Yup. Them and their arm--

Oh crap.

 

Indeed.

The Clone Army answered to Palpatine personally, part of the brainwashing that made Order 66 possible. And, if I recall, stormtroopers were present at the Declaration of a New Order. So any attempt by the Senate to denounce Palpatine would have resulted in a repeat of Order 66, only with Senators instead of Jedi.

 

you gotta wonder (after Episode 6) how many senators came back into the fold under the leadership of the NEW REPUBLIC.

 

Actually the Clone Army answered to the Republic, just that Palpatine had the majority of the command over them and power over the Republic, however Order 65 should be obeyed by clones with the same efficacy they obeyed Order 66. It is just when the Imperialization was done and the Imperial Charter became the official law when Palpatine got undisputed control over the army and the Senate could not take it back.

 

If the question is whether or not the Senate could have, at some point between 19 BBY and 0 ABY have voted to remove Palpatine from the office of Emperor, or simply declared the existence of an Emperor null and void, or some similar move, then the answer is yes: it absolutely could have. Such a move may or may not have been legal, it would surely be a massive legal wrangle, but the legality of such an action is beside the point.

The real question would be, if the Senate could have found the stones to make such a move, would the galaxy have listened? Considering how much of the galaxy listened to a Declaration of Rebellion by just three Senators out of thousands, a majority vote in the Senate to strip Palpatine of his title would have probably split the galaxy in half, including the Imperial military, and precipitated an immediate shooting war on a massive scale.

Of course, in general Palpatine maintained far too secure of a hold on the Senate for something like this to ever happen - even a few months into Imperial rule, during the Gentis coup, Tarkin felt sufficiently empowered to make some sort of a claim for regency and continued military rule during a potential extended absence by the Empire. There was never any talk of involving the Senate.

Really the one big moment where the Senate could have conducted this sort of grandstanding as a prelude to a firestorm would have been after Tarkin blew up Alderaan with the Death Star. That's one more reason why Palpatine dissolved the Senate when he did.

 

I could easily see it either way.

After all, it hardly mattered - we know more than one senator was assassinated or almost assassinated for speaking out too vigorously.

Fear will keep the local senators in line - fear and corruption.

 

After the Imperial Charter was passed, it is very unlikely they could and that they turning all agaisnt him would cause what you say. Before the Charter was approved the Senate legally could vote him down and they could initiate (actually a selected group of senators forming the Security Council could) Order 65 to remove him.

 

Some senators did chose a new government.

 

Further to my last point, they succeeded in removing the totalitarian government from power and re-instituting galactic democracy.