Yes, Supreme Court justices can be impeached. The same constitutional process that applies to presidents and other federal officials applies to them: a majority of the House of Representatives votes to impeach, and a two-thirds majority of the Senate votes to convict and remove. In more than two centuries, it has been attempted against a sitting justice exactly once, and the Senate acquitted. No justice has ever been removed from the Supreme Court through impeachment.
The Constitutional Grounds
Federal judges, including the nine justices, hold their offices “during good Behaviour” under Article III, Section 1.1Legal Information Institute. Article III U.S. Constitution That phrase is what makes a life appointment conditional rather than absolute. A justice whose conduct falls short of “good Behaviour” can be removed.
The formal grounds come from Article II, Section 4, which covers all civil officers of the United States. Impeachment is authorized for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”2Cornell Law School / Legal Information Institute (LII). Overview of Impeachment Trials Treason and bribery have clear meanings. The third category has always been the contested one. Congressional practice treats it as broader than the criminal code: serious abuses of official power, conduct that undermines the integrity of the judiciary, and behavior that makes the person unfit to hold public trust. A justice does not have to be charged with a crime to be impeached.
How the Process Would Work
Removal is a two-stage process. The House holds the sole power to impeach; the Senate holds the sole power to try.3Legal Information Institute. The Power of Impeachment Overview
The House Vote
An impeachment usually starts in the House Judiciary Committee. The committee investigates, gathers evidence, and hears testimony. If members conclude the allegations warrant action, they draft articles of impeachment. The full House then debates and votes. A simple majority on any single article is enough to impeach.4U.S. Senate. About Impeachment
One procedural note about Supreme Court justices specifically: for lower federal judges, the Judicial Conference of the United States can investigate misconduct and formally certify to the House that impeachment may be warranted under 28 U.S.C. § 355.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 355 – Action by Judicial Conference That referral mechanism does not reach the Supreme Court. Any impeachment of a justice has to originate in the House on its own initiative.
The Senate Trial
Once impeached, the justice is tried in the Senate. House members designated as managers act as prosecutors. The justice has the right to counsel and mounts a full defense. Senators serve as the jury.
A common misconception: the Chief Justice does not preside over the trial of a fellow justice. The Constitution requires the Chief Justice to preside only when the president is on trial, because otherwise the vice president would preside over a proceeding that could elevate them to the presidency.6Library of Congress. Article I Section 3 Clause 6 – Constitution Annotated Every other impeachment trial, including that of a justice, is run by the Senate’s normal presiding officer. When Justice Samuel Chase was tried in 1805, Vice President Aaron Burr presided.
Conviction requires two-thirds of the senators present to vote guilty on at least one article.4U.S. Senate. About Impeachment That threshold is the reason impeachment so rarely produces removal. A simple majority is not enough. A partisan majority is not enough. In a modern Senate, conviction requires votes from senators of both parties.
What Conviction Would Mean
Conviction on any single article results in immediate and automatic removal from office. The justice loses their seat, their authority, and their salary.
The Senate can also take a second vote to permanently bar the removed person from ever holding federal office again. That disqualification vote requires only a simple majority.7Justia. Judgment – Removal and Disqualification – Article II – U.S. Constitution Annotated
Impeachment is a political remedy, not a criminal one. The Constitution limits the Senate’s judgment to removal and disqualification, but it also provides that the convicted person remains “liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”8Library of Congress. Article I Section 3 – Constitution Annotated A removed justice can still face criminal prosecution in ordinary courts for the same underlying conduct.
The Only Justice Ever Impeached: Samuel Chase
In March 1804, the House voted to impeach Associate Justice Samuel Chase. Chase was a Federalist appointed in 1796 who made little effort to hide his partisanship from the bench.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05 President Thomas Jefferson and his Republican allies in Congress moved against him.
The House approved eight articles of impeachment, alleging biased jury selection, restrictions on defense witnesses in politically sensitive trials, and use of the bench to advance a partisan agenda. The final article accused him of conduct “tending to prostitute the high judicial character” of his office.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05
The Jeffersonian Republicans held 25 of 34 Senate seats when the trial opened in early 1805, more than enough to convict on a straight party vote. They did not deliver one. Chase’s defense persuaded several Republican senators that however objectionable his conduct had been, it did not meet the constitutional standard for removal. On March 1, 1805, the Senate acquitted him on every article. A simple majority voted guilty on three articles, but none came close to the two-thirds required.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05 Chase returned to the bench and served until his death in 1811.
The acquittal set a durable precedent. Disagreeing with a justice’s rulings or disliking their politics is not, by itself, grounds for removal. Every serious impeachment debate since has run into that principle.
Threats, Resignations, and Failed Efforts
Chase is the only justice formally impeached, but he is not the only one who came close to a trial.
Justice Abe Fortas resigned on May 15, 1969, becoming the first Supreme Court justice to leave under the threat of impeachment. It emerged that Fortas had accepted a $20,000 annual retainer from the family foundation of Louis Wolfson, a financier later imprisoned for securities violations. The arrangement was to pay Fortas for life in exchange for unspecified advisory work. Once the retainer became public, at least one House member said articles of impeachment were ready to file. Fortas stepped down before any formal proceeding began, and the House Judiciary Committee dropped the matter.
The following April, House Minority Leader Gerald Ford led an impeachment effort against Justice William O. Douglas, citing Douglas’s own financial entanglements. The House Judiciary Committee investigated for six months and concluded the evidence did not support impeachment. The effort died.
More recently, in July 2024, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.10Congress.gov. H.Res.1353 – Impeaching Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States11Congress.gov. H.Res.1354 – Impeaching Samuel Alito, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Neither resolution advanced to a committee vote. The pattern is consistent: impeachment resolutions against justices surface during periods of political conflict, but the two-thirds Senate threshold makes actual removal nearly unachievable.
Why Impeachment Is the Only Real Lever
For most of its history, the Supreme Court operated without a written ethics code. Lower federal judges have been bound by the Code of Conduct for United States Judges since 1973, but the justices considered themselves exempt. On November 13, 2023, the Court adopted its own Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court, with canons requiring the justices to maintain the integrity and independence of the judiciary and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.12Legal Information Institute. Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
The code has no external enforcement mechanism. No body outside the Court can investigate a justice or impose sanctions. The Judicial Conference’s authority under § 355 covers lower court judges only.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 355 – Action by Judicial Conference For a sitting Supreme Court justice, impeachment by Congress remains the only formal accountability tool. That is why the question keeps returning, and why the answer, in practice, has always been the same.