Harry E. Claiborne (1986): U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate)
Alcee L. Hastings (1988): U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate)
Walter L. Nixon (1989): U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate)
Only one U.S. Supreme Court justice, Samuel Chase, has ever been impeached by the House of Representatives. The Senate acquitted Chase in March 1803. In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas resigned from the U.S. Supreme Court after facing a threat of impeachment.
Samuel Chase is the only Supreme Court justice to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The Senate, however, acquitted him in March 1803. Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
What happened with the impeachment of Samuel Chase?
Samuel Chase had a distinguished political history. He had signed the Declaration of Independence. He had served as the chief judge of Maryland’s highest state court. However, Chase landed into trouble when he became a Supreme Court justice. His troubles occurred when he rode circuit and served as presiding judge in some key cases. For example, Chase apparently conducted himself in a very partisan manner during the sedition trial of James Callender. He also attacked President Thomas Jefferson, saying the president had engaged in “seditious attacks on the principles of the Constitution.” The House of Representatives impeached Chase 72–32 on eight charges in March 1804. However, the Senate acquitted Chase in 1805. On one charge, the Senate voted 19–15 to convict Chase. But Chase was acquitted on even this charge because there needed to be a two-thirds vote for conviction (or 24 votes). Many view the acquittal of Justice Chase as essential to the principle of an independent judiciary.
JUDICIARY ACT OF 1789 AND THE LOWER FEDERAL COURTS
Why is the Judiciary Act of 1789 so important?
It is important because it created the federal judicial system in the United States. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her book The Majesty Of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice that the Judiciary Act of 1789 “stands as the single most important legislative enactment of the nation’s founding years.” The Judiciary Act is important because it created the federal court system. The U.S. Constitution called for the creation of a “supreme court” and the “inferior courts” but it was Congress that did the creating when it passed the Judiciary Act of 1789.
Who was the principal author of the Judiciary Act of 1789?
Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut was the principal author of the Judiciary Act of 1789. A member of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, Ellsworth became a U.S. senator when the Senate first convened in 1789. He was elected chair of the committee designed to follow the dictates of Article III of the new Constitution to create a federal judicial system. William Paterson from New Jersey, another member of the 1787 Convention and an original U.S. senator, also assisted in the drafting of the Judiciary Act of 1789. Both Ellsworth and Paterson later became justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. They both were classmates at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton College) before they entered politics.
What type of federal court system did Congress create in the Judiciary Act of 1789?
Congress passed the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789, which filled in many of the blanks in Article III of the Constitution. For example, Article III simply stated that there would be “one supreme court” and such “inferior courts” as Congress deemed necessary.
The Judiciary Act created a three-tiered system of federal courts, which still exists into the twenty-first century. The Act created a U.S. Supreme Court (of six justices), federal circuit courts, and federal district courts. There were 13 district courts, consisting of the districts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia. In each district, there would be a district court and a district judge that would hold four annual sessions.
The Judiciary Act also called for three circuit courts—the Eastern, Middle, and Southern Circuits. The Eastern Circuit consisted of the districts of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. The Middle Circuit consisted of the districts of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The Southern Circuit consisted of the districts of Georgia and South Carolina. Each circuit court would consist of panels of three judges—a local district court judge and two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Who were the original federal district court judges in these thirteen districts?
The thirteen original federal district court judges were: Richard Law (District of Connecticut); David Sewall (District of Maine); John Lowell (District of Massachusetts); John Sullivan (District of New Hampshire); James Duane (District of New York); Gunning Bedford (District of Delaware); Harry Innes (District of Kentucky); William Paca (District of Maryland); David Brearley (District of New Jersey); Francis Hopkinson (District of Pennsylvania); Cyrus Griffin (District of Virginia); Nathaniel Pendleton (District of Georgia); and William Drayton (District of South Carolina).
What three additional federal district courts were created within two years of the Judiciary Act of 1789?
Congress added federal district courts in the states of North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Vermont. President George Washington nominated John Stokes for the District of North Carolina; Harry Marchant for the District of Rhode Island; and Nathaniel Chipman for the District of Vermont.
What part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 gives the Supreme Court the power to review state laws?
Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 provides that the U.S. Supreme Court can review state laws to determine whether they comport with the Constitution. The section reads that where “the validity” of a state law is questioned “on the ground of being repugnant to the constitution, treaties or laws of the United States,” the U.S. Supreme Court has jurisdiction. This section originally caused great controversy, as many believed that the rights of the states were being invaded by the federal government and its courts.
What was circuit duty?
The Judiciary Act of 1789 created 13 lower federal courts called district courts. These district courts were divided into three circuits—the Eastern, the Middle, and the Southern. The circuit courts were composed of a district court judge and two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. “Circuit duty,” or “riding circuit,” meant that U.S. Supreme Court justices had to travel across the country to hear cases across the country. An early U.S. Supreme Court justice, Thomas Johnson of Maryland, resigned after a little more than a year because of the difficulties caused by traveling to different circuit courts. In 1793, Congress passed a law that required circuit courts to consist of only one U.S. Supreme Court justice. Supreme Court justices “rode circuit” until 1891.
Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789
“And be it further enacted, That a final judgment or decree in any suit, in the highest court of law or equity of a State in which a decision in the suit could be had, where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under the United States, and the decision is against their validity; or where is drawn in question the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under any State, on the ground of their being repugnant to the constitution, treaties or laws of the United States, and the decision is in favour of such their validity, or where is drawn in question the construction of any clause of the constitution, or of a treaty, or statute of, or commission held under the United