Schumer pressures Roberts to cast witnesses vote in case of tie

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Friday ratcheted up pressure on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to break a possible tie vote on a motion to consider subpoenas of additional witnesses and documents, which could extend President Trump’s impeachment trial for weeks.  

Schumer to this point has focused on putting pressure on four moderate Senate Republicans to break ranks and vote for subpoenaing former national security adviser John Bolton, among others. But with Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-Tenn.) announcement Thursday that he will vote against subpoenas, Roberts is now Democrats’ best hope.

“If it’s a tie, it will be up to the chief justice. The chief justice knows every trial has witnesses and documents,” Schumer told reporters Friday morning, though he declined to discuss the scenario at length.

The prospect of a 50-50 tie on the crucial procedural question depends on the last undecided Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who said she would make an announcement Friday morning on how she would vote.

If she joins Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in voting for subpoenas, then the motion to consider new evidence would be deadlocked 50-50.

Senate Republican leaders have argued for weeks that the motion to call new witnesses and documents should fail on a 50-50 vote, but there’s precedent for a chief justice breaking a tie on a procedural question in an impeachment trial.

Then Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase broke two ties on motions to adjourn in President Andrew Johnson’s 1868 impeachment trial. And a motion in the trial to prevent the chief justice from breaking a tie was defeated.

Even so, Democrats view the prospect of Roberts settling the argument over whether new evidence should be weighed as a long shot because it would risk politicizing the court.

“The chief justice breaking a tie is a very last resort to uphold the credibility and trust of our justice system. If necessary, the chief justice might decide to break the tie. I think there’s a powerful argument for it. I think the odds are he will decide against” doing that, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).