Impeaching A Supreme Court Justice

Appointment of Supreme Court Justices is a huge Presidential campaign issue.

Image result for us supreme court

And so it should be.

The Supreme Court has far-reaching ability to impact life and law in America, and they are appointed for their lifetime.  But that isn’t the end of the story.  If… and I emphasize IF, the United States Congress were serious about protecting the Constitution and preserving liberty, they not only have the power to impeach a President, but also a Supreme Court Justice.

It begins in the House of Representatives and a trial is held in the Senate.  Only one US Supreme Court Justice has been impeached, but the precedent and Constitutional authority is very clear that Congress has the power to remove a Justice from the US Supreme Court.

Wikipedia gives this account of the impeachment of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase:

“Virginia Congressman John Randolph of Roanoke took up the challenge and took charge of the impeachment. The House of Representatives served Chase with eight articles of impeachment in late 1804, one of which involved Chase’s handling of the trial of John Fries. Two more focused on his conduct in the political libel trial of James Callender. One article covered Chase’s conduct with the New Castle grand jury, charging that he “did descend from the dignity of a judge and stoop to the level of an informer by refusing to discharge the grand jury, although entreated by several of the said jury so to do.” Three articles focused on procedural errors made during Chase’s adjudication of various matters, and an eighth was directed at his “intemperate and inflammatory … peculiarly indecent and unbecoming … highly unwarrantable … highly indecent” remarks while “charging” or authorizing a Baltimore grand jury. The Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans controlled United States Senate began the impeachment trial of Chase in early 1805, with Vice President Aaron Burr presiding and Randolph leading the prosecution.

All the counts involved Chase’s work as a trial judge in lower circuit courts. (In that era, Supreme Court justices had the added duty of serving as individuals on circuit courts, a practice that was ended in the late 19th century.) The heart of the allegations was that political bias had led Chase to treat defendants and their counsel in a blatantly unfair manner. Chase’s defense lawyers called the prosecution a political effort by his Republican enemies. In answer to the articles of impeachment, Chase argued that all of his actions had been motivated by adherence to precedent, judicial duty to restrain advocates from improper statements of law, and considerations of judicial efficiency.

The Senate voted to acquit Chase of all charges on March 1, 1805. “

Cries of fear are being sounded by the Republican Party , as though life will end if we elect Clinton and thus allow her to nominate candidates for the US Supreme Court.  To be sure, it’s a serious thing, but what if we had a Congress that took action when a Justice is needing to be REMOVED from the bench?  Just because a President appoints someone to the Court doesn’t mean that all hope for justice is lost.

Our Forefathers gave us a remedy for a tyrannical Supreme Court.  They invested Congress with the power to remove a Justice.  Impeachment requires a simple majority in the House and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict.

What if Congress actually performed its duty?

***Gordon Howie is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

Gordon

“It’s not about right or left, it’s about Right or Wrong.”

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2 comments for “Impeaching A Supreme Court Justice

  1. May 18, 2016 at 7:20 am

    Let’s begin by impeaching Clarence Thomas for corruption.

    • May 18, 2016 at 1:08 pm

      Maybe the Dems should introduce a resolution to impeach him, identify the issues and set the tone for Judicial accountability

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