Roberts has little say in the matter. If McConnell had said the Senate was not going to vote on the issue of additional witnesses (or anything else), Roberts might have interjected that the Senate as a whole has to vote on each and every issue. Other than that, he can’t force how the trial is conducted by the Senate.
This is not about if Roberts can rule, this is about a talking point that the ‘trial was unfair’ because there were no witnesses. ‘What trial has no witnesses?’ That what the Libs want out of their effort.
Hypothetically if Roberts were on his own to issue a statement that he'd considered the situation and determined that witnesses were necessary and he'd allow them. Would the republican Senators actually defy him just because he's grossly overstepping his authority? Or would they just say "oh heck, the press is going to kill us. We ought to just go along. I hope he allows us to call some too."
That report [by the Senate Research Service] also says that in the case of a tie vote the chief justice would not be expected to vote, as the vice president or another senator could when they preside, and that any tie vote during an impeachment trial defaults to the negative result.
Van Hollen’s motion would still need a majority vote to change these rules to give the chief justice more authority and avoid the long delays threatened by the president’s legal team.
Thus, it looks like, with Alexander voting against calling any more witnesses, the worst that can happen is a tie that defeats the motion and Roberts will not be able to cast a tie breaking vote.
The presiding judge does not run the Senate. The Senate runs the Senate.
More illiberal judicial activism and judicial legislation and judicial supremacy. Unfortunately, _Justice_ Roberts would love to dance; he’s a monster with smiling faces. Once made a decision that ACA is constitutional; _and_ that the penalties were a tax.
Most all DC law is upside-down; most all of its activities are treasonous, i.e., in violation of the Supreme Law.
Historically, the chief justice did intervene in the Johnson impeachment trial. Besides, Roberts is the same dude who single handedly saved Obamacare.
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