Can Supreme Court Justices Be Impeached: Process and Samuel Chase

Yes, Supreme Court justices can be impeached. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution lets Congress impeach and remove the president, vice president, and all civil officers—justices included—for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”¹ A justice’s lifetime appointment runs only during “good Behaviour” under Article III, and impeachment is the sole tool Congress has to enforce that limit.² It has happened exactly once in American history, and no justice has ever been removed.

What Counts as Grounds for Removal

The Constitution names three categories: treason, bribery, and “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”¹ The first two are narrow. The third is broad by design and has never been read to require a violation of the criminal code. Since the founding it has been understood to cover serious abuses of public trust, whether or not a prosecutor could file charges.

Article III reinforces the point. Federal judges hold office “during good Behaviour,” which signals that conduct falling short of that standard can justify removal even when no crime has been committed.² In practice, the House has impeached federal judges for perjury, tax evasion, bribery, favoritism in appointments, and drunkenness on the bench.³

How the House Brings Charges

Impeachment starts in the House of Representatives, which has the sole power to bring charges.⁴ A member introduces an impeachment resolution. It usually goes to the House Judiciary Committee, which can hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, and gather evidence to decide whether formal charges are warranted.⁵

If the committee finds grounds, it drafts articles of impeachment and sends them to the full House. A simple majority passes each article.⁵ That vote is the equivalent of an indictment. It does not remove the justice. It sends the case to the Senate for trial.

How the Senate Trial Works

Once the House impeaches, the Senate holds a formal trial. House members called managers prosecute the case. The justice can hire counsel and mount a defense. Senators sit as the jury and vote on each article.⁶

A common assumption is that the Chief Justice presides over the trial of a fellow justice. He does not. The Constitution assigns the Chief Justice to preside only “when the President of the United States is tried.”⁴ Every other impeachment trial is run by the Senate’s usual presiding officer. When the Senate tried Justice Samuel Chase in 1805, Vice President Aaron Burr presided.⁷

Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of the senators present.⁴ That supermajority is why removal is so rare: a narrow partisan majority is not enough. Acquittal ends the matter, and the justice stays on the bench.

What Conviction Does

Conviction removes the justice from office automatically. There is no appeal.⁶

The Senate can then take one further step: a separate vote, by simple majority, to bar the removed justice from ever holding federal office again.⁶ Without that vote, someone removed by impeachment could in theory be nominated for another federal position.

Impeachment is not a criminal proceeding. Its purpose is to protect the office, not to impose fines or prison. The Constitution keeps criminal prosecution open: “the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”⁴ The Senate rejected a double-jeopardy objection on this exact point when it convicted Judge Alcee Hastings, who had been acquitted in a criminal trial before Congress removed him.⁸

Why Impeachment Is the Only Way Out

Nothing else can remove a sitting justice. The president cannot fire one. Congress cannot legislate one out. No court can order one off the bench. The federal judiciary itself states that Article III judges “can be removed from office only through impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate.”⁹

The Supreme Court also sits outside the federal judiciary’s ordinary ethics machinery. The Judicial Conduct and Disability Act (28 U.S.C. § 351) lets anyone file a misconduct complaint against a federal judge, which can trigger an investigation and, in serious cases, a certification to the House that impeachment may be warranted. But the statute defines “judge” as a circuit judge, district judge, bankruptcy judge, or magistrate judge, deliberately leaving Supreme Court justices out of the complaint process.¹⁰

In 2023, the Court adopted its own Code of Conduct for the first time, responding to public pressure over ethics controversies. The code sets general principles on conflicts of interest and impartiality, but it has no enforcement mechanism. There is no outside arbiter, no disciplinary body, and no formal process for investigating alleged violations. Compliance is effectively voluntary. Impeachment is the only tool with real force.

A justice who becomes permanently disabled can retire under 28 U.S.C. § 372, which provides continued salary after a minimum period of service.¹¹ Disability retirement is voluntary, though. If a justice refuses to step aside, Congress is left with impeachment.

Resignation is a separate question. Federal judges have historically ended impeachment proceedings by resigning before a Senate trial, and in nearly every case Congress dropped the matter. The one exception is Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned in 1876 hours before the House impeached him; the Senate concluded it retained jurisdiction and tried him anyway, though he was acquitted, with several senators citing doubts about trying a former official.¹² The practical result is that a justice who resigned would lose the office but almost certainly avoid trial.

The Only Justice Ever Impeached: Samuel Chase

The single Supreme Court impeachment in American history is that of Associate Justice Samuel Chase, a Federalist appointed by George Washington. In 1804, the Jeffersonian Republican-controlled House approved eight articles accusing Chase of partisan and oppressive conduct on the bench, including refusing to dismiss biased jurors, restricting defense witnesses in politically charged cases, and using the bench to advance his political views.⁷

The Senate trial took place in early 1805 with Vice President Aaron Burr presiding. Chase’s defense argued that his actions were errors in judgment at worst, not the kind of conduct the Constitution meant to reach. That argument won. A majority voted guilty on three of the eight articles, but none reached two-thirds. At least six senators from Jefferson’s own party voted not guilty on every article.⁷

The Chase acquittal is widely read as the moment judicial independence took root in practice. It set a working principle that Congress should not use impeachment to punish judges for their legal opinions or political leanings. Had the Senate convicted on what amounted to charges of partisan behavior, every justice would have become vulnerable whenever the opposing party held Congress. That line has held for more than two centuries. No Supreme Court justice has been impeached since.

The pattern in the fifteen federal judge impeachments the House has brought, and the eight convictions the Senate has returned, points the same way.³ The conduct that actually leads to removal has been provable criminal behavior—perjury, bribery, tax fraud—not disputed rulings or political disagreements.

1
Legal Information Institute. Article II | U.S. Constitution
2
Constitution Annotated. Good Behavior Clause Doctrine
3
Federal Judicial Center. Impeachments of Federal Judges
4
Legal Information Institute. Article I | U.S. Constitution
5
U.S. Government Publishing Office. House Practice – Chapter 27: Impeachment
6
Legal Information Institute. The Power to Try Impeachments: Overview
7
U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05
8
Constitution Annotated. Doctrine on Impeachment Judgments
9
U.S. Courts. Judges and Judicial Administration – Journalists Guide
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 351 – Complaints; Judge Defined
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 372 – Retirement for Disability; Substitute Judge
12
U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of Secretary of War William Belknap, 1876