Impeachment Maelstrom Pulls Chief Justice Into Politics He Shuns
- Roberts has defended judicial independence, clashed with Trump
- Supreme Court has moved right under the Bush-appointed Roberts
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As a presidential impeachment trial loomed in 1999, John Roberts thought about William Rehnquist, the U.S. chief justice who was set to preside.
“If anybody can do it, I’m sure the current chief will,” Roberts said of Rehnquist, who had written a book about impeachment. Roberts, now chief justice himself, was then a lawyer in private practice and spoke in a Bloomberg News interview.