Lit Would putting Palpatine on trial in ROTS actually change anything?

It occurred to me that a lot of people think that if Mace had just arrested Palpatine, Anakin wouldn't have turned to the Dark Side and everything would be just fine. After thinking about history and current events, I'm wondering if that would have actually been the case.

The Jedi didn't announce any charges in arresting Palpatine. Mace just said, "In the name of the Senate of the Galactic Republic, you're under arrest Chancellor." But he didn't actually state what Palpatine was charged with. Mace only has the word of Anakin Skywalker that Palpatine is a Sith Lord. Mas Amedda will point out that before Anakin, Mace was literally on his way to hand a report to the Chancellor.

Even if being a Sith Lord is a crime (per the Darth Bane novels), it relies solely on Anakin's testimony. And what would Palpatine do once taken into custody? Shred the credibility of the accuser.

Palpatine will announce he said nothing about being a Sith Lord to Anakin and that Anakin is trying to silence Palpatine because Palpatine knows about a. his illegal marriage and b. his slaughter of the Tuskens.

DNA tests will show Padme is pregnant with Anakin's kids. Palpatine will point everyone to the location of the Tusken slaughter and Shmi's grave, and everyone will see Anakin's crime (the evidence was still there past ROTS per Legends novels).

With the credibility of his main accuser gone, Mas Amedda will have to release Palpatine until more evidence of the charge is brought in. Even if Palpatine scores high on a midichlorian test, it just proves he's Jedi material, not that he's a Sith Lord. Anakin will be expelled from the Jedi Order and Padme will be expelled from the Senate.

The Jedi would then have to appoint a special investigator to try to research evidence of Palpatine's crimes. As we see in the real world, this would take years. Palpatine can then just go on and legally create the Empire anyway.

The credibility of the Jedi would be in shambles. Palpatine's supporters, who control the Senate, would accuse them of being Separatist sympathizers. Palpatine might not even need to kill them at this point in time (Lord Vitiate was able to rule a galactic empire perfectly fine with tons of Jedi still running around). Palpatine will take the Jedi Temple land back from the Jedi and send them on their way.

 

The situation would never have gotten so far as you posit.

Palpatine would have breached captivity and probably fought against the Jedi one to ten thousand, and may have lost, but if mace and Yoda perished, he might just win

 

Wouldn't that just to prove to everyone he was actually a Sith Lord? The office fight was still private, the fight you are suggesting not as much.

Although to be fair, Palpatine's support was so high the Senate probably would have amended the law to make being a Sith legal. Or Mas Amedda would have just pardoned him.

 

Indeed. Conspiring with the Head of State of the CIS and their Supreme Commander definitely qualifies as treason to the Republic. All they really need is a recording of Sidious's transmissions to Grievous or Dooku, something they can probably find in Palpatine's office.

 

I'm pretty sure all such recordings were destroyed in Labyrinth of Evil though?

I doubt Palpatine used state equipment to give the CIS orders.

They would need proof of treason, something that was seemingly all destroyed in Labyrinth of Evil with that mechno chair drama.

We know Star Wars tech regularly wipes usage logs anyway. That's why Vader never paid Yoda a visit after capturing Luke's X-Wing on Bespin.

 

I often wondered the same thing about if he would have stood trial. Good question

 

It's something I've pondered more recently despite the almost 15 years since the movie was released.

We could have Palpatine proclaiming on the holonet that he believes San Hill's words that the Banking Clan doesn't contribute assets to the CIS over the Jedi's own evidence from Geonosis and Muunilinst (as well as Obi-Wan's testimony), and nothing would happen to him. (Probably how we got that "neutral" Banking Clan nonsense in TCW).

I don't think a legal treason case against Palpatine would be such a slam dunk case in the Star Wars universe as people seem to think it is. We already know he scrubbed his tracks clean in Labyrinth of Evil.

 

Yeah it would have changed it from an entertaining movie to a boring one.

Yeah! Which is what Mace says.

There's a very...weird(?) segment of the fandom that sides really heavily with Anakin(???) and are convinced that the Jedi are wholesale responsible for all of his decisions(???!) so it tracks that people think Mace should have just arrested him.

 

Palpatine already attacked and killed 3 Jedi before Mace's attempt to capture him. 3 dead bodies are more than enough for putting him into a prison.

 

Considering he got away with a self-defense claim in ROTS, he would probably do the same claim in this scenario.

You are right though in that both Mace and Anakin arguing otherwise would weaken his argument.

Also, this still technically would not prove treason--Palpatine could claim the Jedi were aiming to kill instead of arrest, he stole Agen Kolar's lightsaber, and had to kill the Jedi in self-defense.

 

If that was true, then Palpatine would be dead, not arrested by Mace at the end of the day.

 

His high midichlorian count and extensive, uh, Teras Kasi training helped.

 

That's not what I meant.

If Mace and his friends were actually trying to kill Palpatine, then Mace would kill Palpatine already, we're talking about a situation where Sidious is arrested and brought before the court by Mace right? It means Mace could've killed Palpatine anytime he wanted since he captured Palpatine, but instead he arrested Palpatine and brought him before the court.

So that's not really a good explanation for Palpatine's part.

 

Oh I'm sorry, I understand now. Since Mace and Anakin bring Palpatine in chains, that proves the Jedi were never going to kill him and Palpatine murdered 3 Jedi Masters during a peaceful arrest.

Yeah Palpatine does look pretty bad at this point. There's our smoking gun. I wonder how he would think his way out of this one?

We do see that they immediately vote on a new Chancellor upon the removal of the old one in TPM. So unlike say, America, Mas Amedda can't pardon Palpatine out of this one.

Palpatine's plan thus entirely hinges on Mace actually trying to kill him and go against the Jedi code. It seems a rather odd thing to hinge your entire galactic domination plan on.

 

Mace himself said he had control of the courts and senate. And Palpatine knew that Mace knew this, thus Palpatine knew Mace would have to kill him.

 

Oh, why don't we just ask George Lucas how a hypothetical Palpatine trial would've gone? Then we can settle whether Mace's actions were justified or not.

 

Mace's dialogue probably suggests how George thinks a Palpatine trial would have gone. @Erkan12 makes a good point that Palpatine would still have to explain 3 dead Jedi Masters in this scenario.

My guess is that, with Palpatine's disfigurement, Palpatine might claim that Tiin, Fisto, and Kolar were torturing him and Mace killed them so that he can conduct a legal arrest. Mace is now making up Palpatine's attack story to cover for his friends (Anakin wasn't there for any of it).

 

A Jedi uprising was what Palpatine needed, and he got it. It was a trap. Order 66 is specifically a contingency for the Jedi going rogue, which means Palpatine was just going to keep pushing the Jedi until they rebelled.

 

If Palpatine is arrested, it may be some time before he regains access to his comlink to the clones. Maybe mas amedda could issue order 66 and the clones would obey due to the chip, but the legal aftermath is suddenly a lot more shaky.

Order 66: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.

Mas amedda wouldn't have the authority because he's not chancellor.

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Would the clones obey Order 66 if given by anyone other than Palpatine? It's seems to me that the clones respond to the voice of Darth Sidious and only to him, due to the biochips. If Mas Amedda gave the order instead, would the clones still execute it with the unquestioning loyalty that they did in reality?

 

There has to be some sort of order of succession in place if the Chancellor is incapacitated or arrested or whatever. I'm not sure this has ever been mentioned, but I would have to believe that in such a case, Mas Amedda as Vice Chancellor would at least temporarily be in charge.

 

If Mace had brought Anakin along with the arresting party Palpatine may have allowed himself to be arrested without a fight to prove he's not a "bad sith" and wants to help Anakin. He could still manipulate him from prison.

 

That was literally what the Jedi were planning.