43 cate that the duty on the ship or the merchandise had been paid or secured, "contrary to [Pickering's] trust and duty as judge..., and to the manifest injury of [the] revenue. 99 10 Article II charged that Pickering, "with intent to defeat the just claims of the United States," refused to hear the testimony of witnesses produced on behalf of the United States and, without hearing testimony, ordered the ship and merchandise restored to the claimant "contrary to his trust and duty, as judge of the said district court, in violation of the laws of the United States, and to the manifest injury of their revenue." 11 Article III charged that Pickering, "disregarding the authority of the laws, and wickedly meaning and intending to injure the revenues of the United States, and thereby to impair the public credit, did absolutely and positively refuse to allow" the appeal of the United States on the admiralty proceedings, "contrary to his trust and duty as judge of the said district court, against the laws of the United States, to the great injury of the public revenue, and in violation of the solemn oath which he had taken to administer equal and impartial justice." 12 Article IV charged: That whereas for the due, faithful, and impartial adminis- c. Proceedings in the Senate The Senate convicted Judge Pickering on each of the four articles by a vote of 19 to 7.14 d. Miscellaneous The Senate heard evidence on the issue of Judge Pickering's sanity, but refused by a vote of 19 to 9 to postpone the trial.15 3. JUSTICE SAMUEL CHASE (1804-1805) a. Proceedings in the House In 1804 the House authorized a committee to inquire into the conduct of Supreme Court Justice Chase.16 On the same day that Judge Pickering was convicted in the Senate, the House adopted by a vote of 10 Id. 319. 11 Id. 320-21. 12 Id. 321-22. 13 Id. 322. 14 Id. 366-67. 15 Id. 362-63. 18 Id. 875. 44 73 to 32 a resolution reported by the committee that Chase be impeached of "high crimes and misdemeanors.1 b. Articles of Impeachment After voting separately on each, the House adopted eight articles.18 Article I charged that, "unmindful of the solemn duties of his office, and contrary to the sacred obligation by which he stood bound to discharge them 'faithfully and impartially, and without respect to persons' [a quotation from the judicial oath prescribed by statute], Chase, in presiding over a treason trial in 1800, "did, in his judicial capacity, conduct himself in a manner highly arbitrary, oppressive and unjust" by: (1) delivering a written opinion on the applicable legal definition of treason before the defendant's counsel had been heard; (2) preventing counsel from citing certain English cases and U.S. statutes; and (3) depriving the defendant of his constitutional privilege to argue the law to the jury and "endeavoring to wrest from the jury their indisputable right to hear argument and determine upon the question of law, as well as the question of fact" in reaching their verdict. In consequence of this "irregular conduct" by Chase, the defendant was deprived of his Sixth Amendment rights and was condemned to death without having been represented by counsel "to the disgrace of the character of the American bench, in manifest violation of law and justice, and in open contempt of the rights of juries, on which ultimately, rest the liberty and safety of the people." 19 Article II charged that, "prompted by a similar spirit of persecution and injustice," Chase had presided over a trial in 1800 involving a violation of the Sedition Act of 1798 (for defamation of the President, and, "with intent to oppress and procure the conviction" of the defendant, allowed an individual to serve on the jury who wished to be excused because he had made up his mind as to whether the publication involved was libelous.20 Article III charged that, "with intent to oppress and procure the conviction" of the defendant in the Sedition Act prosecution, Chase refused to permit a witness for the defendant to testify "on pretense that the said witness could not prove the truth of the whole of one of the charges contained in the indictment, although the said charge embraced more than one fact." 21 Article IV charged that Chase's conduct throughout the trial was "marked by manifest injustice, partiality, and intemperance": (1) in compelling defendant's counsel to reduce to writing for the court's inspection the questions they wished to ask the witness referred to in article III; (2) in refusing to postpone the trial although an affidavit had been filed stating the absence of material witnesses on behalf of the defendant; (3) in using "unusual, rude and contemptuous expressions" to defendant's counsel and in "falsely insinuating" that they wished 45 to excite public fears and indignation and "to produce that insubordination to law to which the conduct of the judge did, at the same time, manifestly tend"; (4) in "repeated and vexatious interruptions of defendant's counsel, which induced them to withdraw from the case"; and (5) in manifesting "an indecent solicitude" for the defendant's conviction, "unbecoming even a public prosecutor, but highly disgraceful to the character of a judge, as it was subversive of justice." 22 Article V charged that Chase had issued a bench warrant rather than a summons in the libel case, contrary to law.23 Article VI charged that Chase refused a continuance of the libel trial to the next term of court, contrary to law and "with intent to oppress and procure the conviction" of the defendant.24 Article VII charged that Chase, "disregarding the duties of his office, did descend from the dignity of a judge and stoop to the level of an informer" by refusing to discharge a grand jury and by charging it to investigate a printer for sedition, with intention to procure the prosecution of the printer, "thereby degrading his high judicial functions and tending to impair the public confidence in, and respect for, the tribunals of justice, so essential to the general welfare." 25 Article VIII charged that Chase, "disregarding the duties and dignity of his judicial character," did "pervert his official right and duty to address" a grand jury by delivering "an intemperate and inflammatory political harangue with intent to excite the fears and resentment" of the grand jury and the people of Maryland against their state government and constitution, "a conduct highly censurable in any, but peculiarly indecent and unbecoming" in a Justice of the Supreme Court. This article also charged that Chase endeavored "to excite the odium" of the grand jury and the people of Maryland against the government of the United States "by delivering opinions, which, even if the judicial authority were competent to their expression, on a suitable occasion and in a proper manner, were at that time, and as delivered by him, highly indecent, extra-judicial, and tending to prostitute the high judicial character with which he was invested, to the low purpose of an electioneering partisan.”: c. Proceedings in the Senate 19 26 Justice Chase was acquitted on each article by votes ranging from 0-34 not guilty on Article V to 19-15 guilty on Article VIII.27 4. DISTRICT JUDGE JAMES H. PECK (1830-1831) a. Proceedinigs in the House The House adopted a resolution in 1830 authorizing an inquiry respecting District Judge Peck.28 The Judiciary Committee reported a resolution that Peck "be impeached of high misdemeanors in office" to the House, which adopted it by a vote of 123 to 49.29 Id. 729-30. Id. 730. 24 Id. Id. 730-31. 2 Id. 731. 27 Id. 665-69 (1805). H.R. JOUR., 21st Cong., 1st Sess. 138 (1830). 6 CONG. DEB. 819 (1830). 46 b. Article of Impeachment After the House voted in favor of impeachment, a committee was appointed to prepare articles. The single article proposed and finally adopted by the House charged that Peck, "unmindful of the solemn duties of his station," and "with interest in wrongfully and unjustly to oppress, imprison, and otherwise injure" an attorney who had published a newspaper article criticizing one of the judge's opinions, had brought the attorney before the court and, under "the color and pretences" of a contempt proceeding, had caused the attorney to be imprisoned briefly and suspended from practice for eighteen months. The House charged that Peck's conduct resulted in "the great disparagement of public justice, the abuse of judicial authority, and . . . the subversion of the liberties of the people of the United States." 30 c. Proceedings in the Senate The trial in the Senate focused on two issues. One issue was whether Peck, by punishing the attorney for writing a newspaper article, had exceeded the limits of judicial contempt power under Section 17 of the Judiciary Act of 1789. The other contested issue was the requirement of proving wrongful intent. Judge Peck was acquitted on the single article with twenty-one Senators voting in favor of conviction and twenty-two Senators against.31 5. DISTRICT JUDGE WEST H. HUMPHREYS (1862) a. Proceedings in the House A resolution authorizing an inquiry by the Judiciary Committee respecting District Judge Humphreys was adopted in 1862.32 Humphreys was subsequently impeached at the recommendation of the investigating committee.33 b. Articles of Impeachment Soon after the adoption of the impeachment resolution, seven articles of impeachment were agreed to by the House without debate.34 Article I charged that in disregard of his "duties as a citizen . . . and unmindful of the duties of his office" as a judge, Humphreys "endeavor[ed] by public speech to incite revolt and rebellion" against the United States; and publicly declared that the people of Tennessee had the right to absolve themselves of allegiance to the United States. Article II charged that, disregarding his duties as a citizen, his obligations as a judge, and the "good behavior" clause of the Constitution, Humphreys advocated and agreed to Tennessee's ordinance of secession. Article III charged that Humphreys organized armed rebellion against the United States and waged war against them. Article IV charged Humphreys with conspiracy to violate a civil war statute that made it a criminal offense "to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States." 30 Id. 869. For text of article, see H.R. JOUR., 21st Cong., 1st Sess. 591-96 (1830). 31 7 CONG. DEB. 45 (1831). CONG. GLOBE, 37th Cong., 2d Sess. 229 (1862). 3 Id. 1966–67. * Id. 2205. 47 Article V charged that, with intent to prevent the administration of the laws of the United States and to overthrow the authority of the United States, Humphreys had failed to perform his federal judicial duties for nearly a year. Article VI alleged that Judge Humphreys had continued to hold court in his state, calling it the district court of the Confederate States of America. Article VI was divided into three specifications, related to Humphreys' acts while sitting as a Confederate judge. The first specification charged that Humphreys endeavored to coerce a Union supporter to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. The second charged that he ordered the confiscation of private property on behalf of the Confederacy. The third charged that he jailed Union sympathizers who resisted the Confederacy. Article VII charged that while sitting as a Confederate judge, Humphreys unlawfully arrested and imprisoned a Union supporter. c. Proceedings in the Senate 35 Humphreys could not be personally served with the impeachment summons because he had fled Union territory. He neither appeared at the trial nor contested the charges. 36 The Senate convicted Humphreys of all charges except the confiscation of property on behalf of the Confederacy, which several Senators stated had not been properly proved. The vote ranged from 38-0 guilty on Articles I and IV to 11-24 not guilty on specification two of Article VI. 6. PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON (1867-1868) a. Proceedings in the House 37 The House adopted a resolution in 1867 authorizing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the conduct of President Johnson. A majority of the committee recommended impeachment,38 but the House voted against the resolution, 108 to 57.9 În 1868, however, the House authorized an inquiry by the Committee on Reconstruction, which reported an impeachment resolution after President Johnson had removed Secretary of War Stanton from office. The House voted to impeach, 128-47.40 b. Articles of Impeachment Nine of the eleven articles drawn by a select committee and adopted by the House related solely to the President's removal of Stanton. The removal allegedly violated the recently enacted Tenure of Office Act,"1 which also categorized it as a "high misdemeanor.” 42 The House voted on each of the first nine articles separately; the tenth and eleventh articles were adopted the following day. Article I charged that Johnson, unmindful of the high duties of his office, of his oath of office, |