# Patrick Leahy Former U.S. Senator from Vermont (1975–2023). Longest-serving Vermont senator in history; longest-serving Senate Democrat at retirement. Twice Chair of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]]. Senate President pro tempore 2021–2023 (the longest-serving senator of the majority caucus). ## The second impeachment trial As President pro tempore, Leahy presided over the [[Trump Second Impeachment]] Senate trial (February 9–13, 2021). Chief Justice [[John Roberts]] had presided over the [[Trump First Impeachment]] trial in 2020 but declined to preside over the second trial, taking the position that Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution requires the Chief Justice's presidence only when a *sitting* president is on trial — an interpretation contested by some constitutional scholars but unchallenged at the time. Leahy presided in his alternative capacity. The Senate first voted 56–44 that the trial was constitutional (six Republicans joining all Democrats). The final vote: 57 guilty, 43 not guilty — ten short of the 67 needed to convict. ## Retirement Did not seek re-election in 2022 after eight terms; succeeded by Democrat Peter Welch. ## KB significance The Roberts/Leahy procedural fork is one of the load-bearing constitutional moments of the post-J6 period: the absence of the Chief Justice in the chair lent a procedural argument to Republican senators voting not guilty on jurisdictional grounds (claiming the Senate could not try a former president). Whether this argument survived legal scrutiny was never tested — acquittal mooted it. See [[Trump Impeachments Timeline]] for the meta-pattern. ## Related - [[Trump Second Impeachment]] - [[Trump Impeachments Timeline]]