But unlike when Roberts oversees then-President Trump’s trial in 2020, Leahy will often be pushed into his senatorial role for votes, including whether he convicts or acquits the former president of the deadly January 6 uprising at the Capitol spurred.
The 80-year-old Democratic Vermont – who is the president of the chamber, or the senator of the majority party who has served the longest – can also ultimately vote on naughty motions related to testimony and witnesses.
Roberts refused to vote in last year’s trial related to Trump’s Ukrainian operations, and when specifically asked if he would break a tie, the unsearchable chief justice said, “That would be inappropriate for me.” an elected official of another branch of government ‘to send the outcome.
“This is not a problem for Leahy,” said Michael Davidson, a former Senate legal adviser. “He is part of the body that is conducting the trial. … His state will still have his representation in the Senate.”
Just as the first indictment of a former president will ever break new ground in America, Leahy’s dual roles will also play out. He will have an example in the actions of two United States chief justices, Roberts with Trump in 2020 and William Rehnquist with President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Sources familiar with Leahy’s preparation say he is going to watch the two men preside and look at patterns set by the chief justices in an attempt to enforce Senate trial procedures, maintaining a sense of decoration and to avoid the arguments on either side.
Leahy, however, will inevitably break from the predominantly ministerial position that Roberts and Rehnquist occupy.
Leahy has already voted once after being sworn in as presiding officer on January 26, with the 55-45 majority rejecting a move by Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky to block the trial of the future. That vote could be a preview of the final outcome, an insufficient number of Republicans voting for Democrats and an acquittal of Trump: the Senate’s trial process for a president looks like that of judges and other officials led by the U.S. House charged. In all cases, the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote for conviction.
According to a spokesperson, Leahy, who promised to be fair and impartial, declined.
How Roberts and Rehnquist tried
Roberts and Rehnquist tried to ensure an orderly process and take on a secondary role for themselves. They kept the bell and applied rules set by the Senate leadership. They consulted with the Senate MP (currently Elizabeth MacDonough) and created from careful sketches.
Roberts stepped in last year to reprimand a disciplinary exchange between Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House and White House, Pat Cipollone. Roberts was quoted in the Florida District Court Judge Charles Swayne.
When the then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer put Roberts on the verge of voting to break a tie, the Chief Justice said: ‘If the members of this body are elected by the people and are accountable to them , divided equally on a motion, the normal rule is that the motion fails. “Roberts refused to make a statement ‘enforce the power’.
When he graduated last year, Roberts expressed his gratitude to senators for helping him in his ‘poorly defined responsibilities in an unfamiliar environment’.
The Constitution only says that, “When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice will preside.”
Leahy had earlier said Roberts was “the first choice” for this second trial of Trump, although he is no longer a sitting president. Schumer, now the majority leader of the Senate, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that “it depends on John Roberts whether he wants to preside over a president who is no longer sitting … And he does not want to do it. “
Roberts declined requests for comment.
Leahy’s plans
Leahy will, of course, give up the black robe, but he will assume some chairmanships from a special presiding officer. He is expected to work out of the glittering, chandelier-like Presidential Chamber near the Senate, as the two chief justices did. And as they have done, sources familiar with the senator’s preparation say Leahy will take his lead on the procedural details of the senate leaders, including when to start and end daily.
Senate rules, not judicial practices, usually cover indictments, which are inherently political matters. The Supreme Court said in a 1993 case that the Senate has the sole responsibility to hear an official who has been charged. In 1999, Rehnquist described the Senate as essentially sitting as a court, not just as a panel of jurors.
Because conviction requires a two-thirds vote, Leahy’s position as a Democratic senator is unlikely to be decisive. But other procedural issues can pose complex dilemmas.
According to Senate rules, the presiding officer can decide on all questions of evidence, but if a senator objects, the official can be overthrown by a majority vote of the Senate.
Leahy can sidestep the decision on a controversial issue that would presumably cause an objection and rather put the matter directly to the full Senate, which is currently divided between 50 and 50 between Republicans and Democrats.
Trump denies inciting the mob that has descended on the Capitol, and his lawyers argue that the Senate has no power to try him. They said once he left office on January 20, he could no longer be tried on the Senate’s charge.
And they confirm Roberts’ absence as evidence of the total unconstitutionality of the trial, claiming: “(D) the constitutional mandate for the chief justice to preside over all the accusations in which the president was involved has apparently disappeared.”
On the broad issue of the constitutionality of the Trump trial, House officials maintain: “There is no ‘January exception’ to accusations or any other provision of the Constitution.” A president must comprehensively respond to his conduct in office from his first day in office. by his last. ‘