Tag: Chief Justice Roberts

Trump supporters hope to use conservative anger at Chief Justice Roberts to energize troubled campaign

Washington Post logoThe White House is trying to capitalize on conservative anger at Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. over his latest decisions by telling evangelical leaders and other activists that they need to turn out voters for President Trump so he can use a second term to continue nominating conservative judges to the nation’s highest court.

Some recent polls have shown a weakening in support for Trump among evangelicals, who have long been among the president’s strongest supporters. But Roberts’s role in cases advancing both gay and abortion rights is now seen in the White House as an opening to shore up that part of Trump’s political base.

Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said there is frustration and disappointment in evangelical ranks about Roberts’s rulings, but he said he and others are not going to walk away from Trump. Continue reading.

‘Assault on Democracy’: A sitting federal judge takes on John Roberts, Trump and Republicans

Washington Post logoLynn S. Adelman, a U.S. district judge in Milwaukee, has riled conservatives by publishing a blistering critique of the Supreme Court’s record under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., focusing on a string of decisions that he argues have fostered “economic inequality,” “undermined democracy” and “increased the political power of corporations and wealthy individuals” at the expense of ordinary Americans.

Adelman also criticized President Trump, who he wrote ran as a populist but failed to deliver “policies beneficial to the general public. … While Trump’s temperament is that of an autocrat,” Adelman wrote, “he is disinclined to buck the wealthy individuals and corporations who control his party.”

The article by Adelman was all the more unusual because it went after the chief justice directly. Roberts, he said, was “misleading” in his 2005 confirmation hearing testimony when he pledged to be a passive “umpire” calling balls and strikes. Continue reading.

Pelosi says it was ‘sad’ to see McConnell ‘humiliate’ Chief Justice Roberts while presiding over witness vote

The Hill logoHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said it was “sad” to see Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “humiliate” Chief Justice John Roberts in President Trump’s impeachment trial by voting against any additional witness testimony.

“It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law,” Pelosi tweeted Saturday.

Senate Republicans on Friday voted 51-49 against a resolution that would have allowed witnesses to testify and additional documents to be introduced in the trial. Continue reading.

 

Justice John Roberts legacy will hinge on whether he lets Republicans get away with their sham impeachment trial: CNN

AlterNet logoAccording to CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer Joan Biskupic, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is currently facing the defining moment of his career on the bench as he presides over the impeachment trial of Donald Trump and he needs to give serious thought as to how history will treat him if he allows the Republican Party to brush aside the charges against the president.

With the Republican-controlled Senate expected to vote to block attempts to allow witnesses to appear in the trial — or end in a 50-50 deadlock — it will be up to Roberts to decide if he wants to intercede and keep the trial alive.

“Roberts has led the US Supreme Court for 15 years. Now age 65, he may serve another 15 years as chief justice. But Friday, he could face a moment on the elevated Senate dais that significantly shapes his legacy — if it gets to that point,” she wrote. “The chief justice could be pressed to break a tie vote on whether witnesses will be called. And he will almost certainly face further pleas by Democratic House managers to intervene and require a deeper review of the Trump allegations.” Continue reading.

GOP predicts Roberts won’t cast tie-breaking vote on witnesses

The Hill logoRepublicans are signaling confidence that Chief Justice John Roberts will not insert himself into the middle of the looming fight over witnesses at President Trump’s impeachment trial. 

GOP senators are cautiously optimistic they will be able to fend off any effort to call new witnesses. But with several of their colleagues still undecided ahead of Friday’s vote, the possibility of a 50-50 tie is seen as the one remaining wildcard in a trial whose outcome is all but certain to end in acquittal.

Roberts, who didn’t respond to a question this week about possibly casting the deciding vote, is facing pressure from Democrats to allow witnesses, after they unsuccessfully attempted to insert a similar provision in the impeachment rules. Continue reading.

Roberts under pressure from both sides in witness fight

The Hill logoSenate Democrats are pressing Chief Justice John Roberts to rule in favor of calling witnesses at President Trump‘s impeachment trial, while Republicans argue it could force his recusal from potential Supreme Court cases. 

Democrats say it’s simple: A trial can’t be a fair one without witnesses. Republicans counter that if Roberts rules on witnesses, he will have to recuse himself from any Supreme Court case on Trump’s claims of executive privilege over potential witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

“I don’t know how you have a serious trial unless you hear from witnesses who know in fact what the facts are, what happened,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Continue reading.

Trump trial poses toughest test yet for Roberts

The Hill logoChief Justice John Roberts will soon discover firsthand that while the Supreme Court and the Senate sit on adjacent Washington city blocks, the two institutions occupy separate worlds.

Roberts on Thursday appeared in the Senate in his black robes to preside over President Trump‘s impeachment trial, leaving the collegiality of the court for a chamber marked in recent years by partisan fighting.

The chief justice was led by a procession of Judiciary Committee and Rules Committee members to the well of the chamber. There, he raised his right hand and swore to do “impartial justice” — the kind of oath he is more accustomed to hearing from advocates before the Supreme Court. Continue reading.

Roberts would hold the gavel, but not the power, at Trump impeachment trial

The chief justice is likely to punt contentious and political questions to lawmakers

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will preside over any impeachment trial of President Donald Trump as the Constitution requires, but don’t expect him to make decisions that substantively reshape the action.

Although there is speculation about how active a role Roberts will take in an impeachment trial and whether key witnesses testify, the Senate under past rules has given relatively little authority to the nation’s top judicial figure. And in the areas Roberts might have authority to make rulings, such as questions about whether evidence is relevant, the rules also allow the Senate to call for a vote to overrule him anyway.

Also, past impeachment trial rules, such as those for President Bill Clinton in 1999, give the chief justice the ability to defer making a ruling on his own and instead put a question to a Senate vote. Continue reading.