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Impeachment of Samuel Chase; Accused: Samuel Chase, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Date: March 12, 1804 () to March 1, 1805 () Outcome: Acquitted by the U.S. Senate, remained in the office of the United States Supreme Court: Charges: Eight high crimes and misdemeanors: Key congressional votes
- March 12, 1804 to March 1, 1805
The second impeachment trial, in 1804, removed a federal judge for reasons of drunkenness and insanity. More than the first two proceedings, however, this third trial challenged the Senate to explore the meaning of impeachable crimes. Samuel Chase had served on the Supreme Court since 1796.
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On March 1, 1805, the Senate acquitted Chase when none of the eight articles of impeachment secured the votes of two-thirds of the members as was required for conviction. Chase’s impeachment helped to set the parameters of what kinds of conduct would warrant a judge’s removal from the bench.
In 1804, Chase was impeached by the House of Representatives on grounds of letting his partisan leanings affect his court decisions, but was acquitted the following year by the Senate and remained in office. He is the only United States Supreme Court Justice to have ever been impeached.
The conventional wisdom regarding the outcome of Chase's impeachment—the only such proceeding ever brought against a U.S. Supreme Court justice—is that it showed that a judge could not be removed simply for taking politically unpopular positions.
Nov 27, 2018 · Published November 27, 2018 at 5:44 AM CST. Listen • 1:49. On Nov. 30, 1804, the U.S. Senate opened its only impeachment trial against a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The House of Representatives’...
Remembered largely as the only Supreme Court justice to ever have faced impeachment proceedings, Samuel Chase served as an associate justice from 1796 to 1811. Chase was born in 1741 in Maryland as the only child of Reverend Thomas Chase and his wife, Matilda Walker. He was educated at home and left at age 18 for Annapolis, where he studied law ...
