University of Virginia Library

Historical Error

Your front page article of 10
April entitled "Impeachment Proceedings
Against Douglas Probable"
states that, while the Senate has
heard impeachment proceedings
against ten lower court federal
judges, "no Supreme Court justice
has been brought to trial." Not
only is this statement wrong, but it
overlooks an important and currently
relevant chapter of American
legal history.

In 1805 the House of Representatives,
responding to suggestions
by our own Mr. Jefferson, brought
impeachment proceedings against
Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court. The Senate
subsequently acquitted Chase on all
eight articles of impeachment,
thereby putting to rest (at least
until now) Mr. Jefferson's unfortunate
theory that Justices of the
Supreme Court could be removed
when Congress found their legal or
political views unpalatable.

Had the outcome of this affair
been different, surely it would have
precluded the free and independent
judiciary this Republic has learned
to enjoy and prize. As Charles
Warren concludes in The Supreme
Court in United States History
(1935), "the profound effect produced
upon the course of American
legal history by the failure of the
Chase impeachment can hardly be
overestimated." See also "The
Chase Impeachment," 4 Journal of
Legal History 49 (1960).