Chief Justice Of The United States

Duties

• If the Chief Justice is in the majority on a Supreme Court case, he or she may decide to write the Opinion of the Court, or may assign it to an associate justice of his or her choice.
• Presides when the Senate tries impeachments of the President of the United States
• Two Chief Justices, Salmon P. Chase and William Rehnquist, have had the duty of presiding over Presidential impeachments and trials--Chase in 1868 over the proceedings of President Andrew Johnson and Rehnquist in 1999 over the proceeding against Bill Clinton.
• Presides over the impeachment trial of the Vice President if the Vice President is serving as Acting President (not a Constitutional responsibility but a rule of the Senate).
• Traditionally officiates at the inauguration of the President of the United States. (This is not a Constitutional responsibility, however. All federal judges are empowered by law to administer oaths and affirmations, and the Chief Justice administers this oath due to the pomp and circumstance. The incoming President technically could choose any judge or any other officer with notarial powers. This often happens when a President dies in office and the Chief Justice cannot be summonded for the emergency inauguration.)
• Serves as the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institute (also not a Constitutional responsibility).
• Serves as the head of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the chief administrative body of the U.S. federal courts. The Judicial Conference is empowered by the Rules Enabling Act to promulgate rules to ensure the smooth operation of the federal courts. It has created rules covering civil procedure and evidence which have been adopted in many states for their courts, and thus those rules have become the backbone of courses on those topics in law schools across the United States.

List of Chief Justices

* Denotes interim Chief Justice

** Denotes elevation from Associate Justice

Related articles

• Supreme Court of the United States
• List of United States Supreme Court cases

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