The Dissolution of the Imperial Senate was the dissolvement of the legislative body of the Galactic Empire, enacted by the decree of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine in response to the Galactic Civil War. Technically, Palpatine had only suspended the senate for the duration of the emergency, however in reality he never intended to revoke this.
At the end of the Clone Wars, Palpatine transformed the Republic Senate into a purely ceremonial assembly.
As the Clone Wars came to an end, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of the Galactic Republic ordered a special session of Congress and proclaimed himself Galactic Emperor, turning the old Republic into a New Order in his image. The motion was eagerly supported by an overwhelming majority of the Galactic Senate, aided by Palpatine's important popularity following his role in the Clone Wars. In the wake of the regime change, the Galactic Senate became the Imperial Senate which over time started growing weaker as the planetary governors assumed more responsibility over their territories. In addition, the minority of Senators who had opposed Palpatine's declaration of the New Order, such as Alderaan Senator Bail Organa and Chandrila Senator Mon Mothma, grew more and more vocal, becoming a major concern for the Emperor.
Until the dissolution of the Senate, the many atrocities of the Imperial authorities were illegal, but due to the lack of power of the Senate, it was difficult to impose sanctions against these crimes, making the Imperial officials almost above the law. However, the Emperor preserved the Senate in order to make the Empire's member worlds believe that they still had a part to play in the government. Secretly, the Emperor planned to disband the Senate since the formation of the Empire in the proclamation of the New Order, but needed its body to retain order until the planet-killing Death Star battle station was completed. Beyond that, Palpatine needed to further cement his control over the galaxy with acts like the Public Order Resentencing Directive, which, act by act, took away the Senate's remaining powers and more of the galaxy's freedoms. Weapons developer Orson Callan Krennic predicted the Senate would be of little concern after the dish was installed on the Death Star.
Tarkin announces the disbanding of the Senate to gathered Imperial leaders.
After the Imperial senator Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, was found out to work with the enemy Rebel Alliance and arrested above Tatooine, the Emperor finally issued the dissolution order. Along with the Imperial Senate, the Trade Federation was also disbanded.
While being detained aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator, Organa invoked her status as an senator in hopes she would be released. However, the Emperor's enforcer Darth Vader informed her that the Senate was being disbanded as they spoke. Aboard the Death Star, gathered leaders of the Empire, including several Joint Chiefs, were informed of the situation by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.
With the last remnant of the Galactic Republic out of the way, the Imperial governors now had full control over their territories. Along with the Senate, many local governing institutions were dissolved as well, leaving many qualified people unemployed. Meanwhile, the Imperial Security Bureau began the process of arresting many members of the Senate, including some who had served in the past, and taking them to the Arrth-Eno Prison Complex on Coruscant. The former delegates were to remain imprisoned there until the Bureau could assess the level of participation each had had with the Rebels. The Imperial authorities, however, wanted to reach out to possible sympathizers, hoping to convince them to join the "right" side.
The authorized holonews outlets obediently repeated the official narrative: Rebel traitors had infiltrated the Senate, which led to a terrorist strike on a major Imperial military installation on Scarif. Therefore, to bring a swift end to that threat and expose the insurgents among the Imperial bureaucracy, Palpatine needed to supersede and suspend the Senate for the duration of the emergency. However, the destruction of the Death Star in the Battle of Yavin shattered the Empire's hopes to maintain a rule by fear via the battle station. With the Senate gone and the Death Star destroyed, the Empire could neither hold order with a puppet legislature nor enforce it with a great symbol of fear. Beyond that, the destruction of the Death Star inspired great hope that a rebellion could succeed.
A number of rebel senators were arrested and sentenced to death.
The Rebel agent Eneb Ray and other allied spies did attempt to rescue a group of senators scheduled to be executed, but fell into a trap set by the Empire. Ultimately, the Arrth-Eno Mission resulted in the death of all the senators and the Rebel spies, except for Ray.
Still, two of the most prominent Rebel senators managed to stay away from the Empire's grasp. Leia Organa was rescued from the Death Star's detention, and the battle station ended up being destroyed by the Rebels. Mon Mothma of Chandrila, a long-time insurgent and one of the Rebel Alliance's secret founders, also managed to escape the purge that followed the Senate's dissolution. Although the assembly had long been an empty husk, Mothma felt particularly disoriented because she no longer had an official title. Similarly, Leia Organa had always hoped the Senate would be there at the end to help rebuild the galaxy once the Emperor was gone.
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