Call Justice Robert's office and leave him a message!

[awesomerwb1]

Been seeing tweets about calling Justice Roberts office.

Someone posted that a real person actually took her call and then transferred her to voicemail when she said she wanted to leave him a message. The number is: 202-479-3472

Request that he intervene to make this a fair trial with witnesses and documents.

[riversedge]

1. Roberts needs to know how we see and feel about this trial.

[Champion Jack]

2. Call and demand a trial with witnesses:

Chief Justice Roberts 202-479-3472
Ernst: [phone]
Gardner: [phone]
McSally: [phone]
Sullivan: [phone]
Tillis: [phone]
Romney: [phone]
Murkowski: (202)-224-6665

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. DONE!!

[Atticus]

4. I just tried. I was not given the opportunity to leave a voicemail---was told they have

"no mechanism" to receive messages. Was told if message was about the SENATE trial, I should contact the SENATE or "write him a letter".

[awesomerwb1]

7. They're probably getting bombarded by calls

The tweet where I got the phone number alone has over 7,000 re-tweets.

[flamingdem]

8. I just got the same response - seems they changed the voicemail option

after receiving so many calls!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Exactly. It's not the Supreme Court's show; it's the Senate's.

The Chief Justice is there only because the Senate's rules require the CJ to be the presiding officer when a president has been impeached. Otherwise it's the president of the Senate, which is the vice president. Roberts is just a stand-in for the president of the Senate.

[melm00se]

5. The role of the chief justice in an impeachment trial

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/01/the-role-of-the-chief-justice-in-an-impeachment-trial/

There has been a good deal written about Roberts’ role, some of it intimating – or at least hoping – that Roberts could wrench control from the politicians who make up the Senate and transform the proceeding into a trial of the conventional judicial sort, with both sides able to compel the appearance of live witnesses and the production of documents and to inquire into any matter logically relevant to the charges against the president.

For better or worse, neither the Constitution, the rules of the Senate, historical precedent nor the personal predilections of Roberts himself make this the least bit likely. Instead, Roberts is most likely to serve as a dignified figurehead in an affair entirely dominated by the Republican senatorial caucus.

Frank Bowman goes on to detail why this will not happen.

Also bear in mind that the Constitution places the sole power to try impeachments with the Senate. There is no judicial oversight or appeal in these matters (Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993)).

[awesomerwb1]

9. Thanks for the info.

We can still call the Senators I guess.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Roberts doesn't have the same power as a regular trial judge.

He's pretty much stuck with refereeing the Senate's own rules for impeachment trials and he won't go beyond what those rules allow. I don't think he can require witnesses to be called if the Senate votes not to - it's their show and not his. The only reason he's there in the first place is that the Senate's rules require the presiding officer to be the Chief Justice only in cases involving the impeachment of a president because of the inherent conflict of interest of the president of the Senate - that is, the vice president - being the normal presiding officer.

[melm00se]

10. Senate rules on impeachment

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SMAN-113/pdf/SMAN-113-pg223.pdf

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Yes, I've read them.

Your previous post makes the point.

[H2O Man]

18. You are right (of course),

yet he still has the ability to exert some influence. Were he, for example, to rule the Democrats can call witnesses could be overturned by the republicans. Yet that would put them on record as obstructing to the point that they went against Chief Justice Roberts.

[catrose]

20. Could he say something about the Republicans wandering in and out

when the rules say they must be present for the whole thing?

[Mike 03]

11. If for any reason you have trouble getting through, or want to contact by phone and

in writing, here's a link to the Supreme Court contact form.


https://www.supremecourt.gov/contact/contact_pio.aspx

Refer to him as "Chief Justice Roberts." He's really touchy if you forget that "Chief" part.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Just stop it. This is not the Supreme Court's proceeding.

Roberts is there only as the required stand-in for the president of the Senate, and he's bound by the Senate's rules. Don't harass federal employees who have to take these calls that will have no effect at all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Does anybody seriously think calling Roberts' office

is going to make a scintilla of difference? The Supreme Court doesn't cave to public pressure. They don't have to, they aren't elected officials. Don't waste your time.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

16. Thank you.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

14. It's the Senate you need to call.

Chief Justice Roberts could admonish the Senators for leaving the chamber, but there is nothing that says he can call witnesses and documents. If he called for witnesses and documents, the Senate could overrule him.

[4139]

15. No, don't do that! Why harass and make federal workers miserable? I would do nothing except...

...us look like A-Hs