Roberts Skips On Second Impeachment Trial For Trump | A Rare Win For Reproductive Rights Advocates
January 26, 2021
SITTING THIS ONE OUT
|For the second impeachment trial of DONALD TRUMP, Supreme Court CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS will be sitting on the sidelines. The Constitution notes, “When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside.” Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER said in an interview with Rachel Maddow last night that “it was up to John Roberts whether he wanted to preside with a president who’s no longer sitting… and he didn’t want to do it.” Instead, the president pro tempore of the chamber, SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY, will preside. Joan Biskupic with CNN reports, “This time, the jurist who oversees a court that forbids cameras, who bristles at breaches of decorum and who strives to project a neutral image, will avoid the public scrutiny and role of referee at what is an inherently political affair.”
I'VE GOT THIS
|NPR’s Susan Davis and Nina Totenberg note that when SENATOR LEAHY was asked if he was concerned about remaining impartial during Trump’s second impeachment trial, he told reporters, “I’m not presenting the evidence. I am making sure that procedures are followed. I don’t think there’s any senator who over the 40-plus years I’ve been here that would say that I am anything but impartial in voting on procedure.”
TIME IS ON HIS SIDE, YES IT IS
|The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed two cases concerning the Emoluments Clause and whether DONALD TRUMP illegally profited from being president. SCOTUS effectively wiped away appeals court opinions that went against Trump because he is no longer president. Ariane de Vogue with CNN explains, “The court’s action raises the question of how the justices will deal with a myriad of other lawsuits and disputes concerning the now-former president, and whether Trump’s side may prevail simply because he ran out the clock and courts allowed him to do so.”
NICE TRY, SLICK
|Pete Williams with NBC News reports SCOTUS handed a victory to reproductive rights advocates yesterday when it “wip[ed] off the books” lower court rulings that had upheld a Texas ban on nearly all abortions in the state. The governor had halted nonessential medical procedures in March to conserve hospital resources for the pandemic, and the attorney general, KEN PAXTON, said the order applied to even non-surgical abortions.
IT'S TOO LATE BABY NOW IT'S TOO LATE
|Also yesterday, the Supreme Court let stand the conviction of former New York State Assembly Speaker SHELDON SILVER. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison for federal corruption charges. The justices gave no reason for turning down Sheldon’s appeal, although JUSTICES NEIL GORSUCH and CLARENCE THOMAS dissented, noting SCOTUS should have taken on the case to clarify its rules on bribery and extortion.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Unions Just Got A Rare Bit Of Good News From The Supreme Court
Vox“The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will not hear a bloc of several cases that threatened to impose dire financial penalties on public sector unions. The cases all involved unions that charged fees to nonmembers that were legal at the time the unions collected those fees, but were later declared illegal by the Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME (2018) (we’ll call that case “Janus I”). It’s easy to overread the significance of the court’s decision not to hear a particular case. When the court denies review of a lower court’s decision, that does not necessarily mean that a majority of the court agreed with that decision. Nevertheless, the anti-union cases that the court decided not to hear on Monday were only the most recent in a train of cases targeting the finances of public sector unions.”
How Democrats Can Keep Their Policies Safe From This Supreme Court
Slate“Against all odds, an ideologically reinvigorated Democratic Party has won the House, Senate, and presidency. Democrats have the opportunity to finally deliver long-overdue reforms to address structural economic inequality, provide every American with adequate health care, and take aggressive action to save our environment before it is too late. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has left Democrats with one big problem: the courts.”