John Murphy The Impeachment Process (2000)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Drunkenness, Blasphemy, and InsanityThe impeachment arose from a specific court case that hepresided over, although the erratic behavior at the centerof the impeachment charges had probably become typi-cal of his actions on the bench during this time.In a caseconcerning shipping duties (fees and taxes) due to the NOTABLE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS 59United States, Judge Pickering was accused of errors injudgment and procedure that hurt the country s interests.He was also said to have been drunk and using foul lan-guage while presiding over this flawed case.The poorly judged case and Pickering s odd behaviorduring it were brought to the attention of the House ofRepresentatives, which in 1803 voted to impeach him bya vote of 45 to 8.The articles of impeachment chargedhim with profanity and drunkenness on the bench andjudicial decisions that seemed unrelated to the facts of thecases or the relevant laws.ESCAPE THROUGHRESIGNATIONSome public offi cials attempt to dodge the humiliation of im-peachment and the resulting trial by resigning from offi ce be-fore the articles of impeachment can be voted on.PresidentRichard M.Nixon provides probably the most famous exampleof this strategy.In general, it is a highly effective tactic.TheHouse of Representatives almost never pursues an impeach-ment inquiry after a suspected offi cial s resignation althoughthere is no constitutional barrier to impeaching former offi ce-holders for crimes committed while in offi ce.In fact, most ofthe delegates to the Constitutional Convention assumed thatthe best time to impeach the president would be after he or sheleft office.Only gradually did a debate emerge over whether ornot the president would be impeachable while still in offi ce.60 THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESSJudge Pickering was so unwell that he could not be pres-ent to defend himself in the Senate.Instead, his son arrivedto plead with the Senators to postpone the trial, sayingthat his father was insane, incapable of good judgment,and unable to perform his duties and therefore should notbe tried for misconduct that was beyond his control.TheSenate was unmoved, however, and insisted that the trialproceed, even though there would be no defense.Where Was the Crime?It was apparent that the judge, although undeniably men-tally ill and no longer capable of performing his job, hadnot committed any high crime or misdemeanor. Drunk-enness and bad language were not federal crimes, nor wasinsanity.Even his misinterpretation of the law could notbe considered a crime.He may have demonstrated errorsin judgment, but no one was accusing him of corruption orintentional violation of the law.For this reason, the Senatedid not vote on each article of impeachment but insteadvoted to declare Pickering guilty as charged. This gavethe senators a way to avoid voting on whether the crimeshe was accused of committing were truly impeachable of-fenses.In fact, 5 senators removed themselves from thetrial and abstained from voting in protest of what theyconsidered to be procedural irregularities. Nevertheless,the remaining senators voted 19 to 7 to convict Pickeringand 20 to 6 to remove him from office.Like the 5 senators who protested the vote on Picker-ing s articles of impeachment, many modern scholars andobservers are troubled by the precedent set by this case. NOTABLE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS 61They feel that, by impeaching and convicting Judge Pick-ering for drunkenness, bad language, and insanity, thevague term high crimes and misdemeanors was madeeven more of a catchall category.The Pickering case, theyargue, opened the door to impeachments based on non-criminal charges.Among other things, such a developmentmade it far more likely that impeachment could becomea highly politicized process.One party could potentiallytarget the leading officers of a rival party without being re-quired to prove that serious crimes were committed in of-fice and against the interests of the nation and its people.Along these lines, it should be noted that Pickeringwas a member of the Federalist Party.The 19 senatorswho voted for his conviction were Republicans; the 7 whovoted to acquit were Federalists.JUSTICE SAMUEL CHASEThe very next federal impeachment to occur after the Sen-ate trial of Judge Pickering heightened the sense that im-peachment was becoming a dangerously politicized tool,a means to check the power of a rival political party.Soonafter Pickering s conviction, a second Federalist judge,Samuel Chase, associate justice of the U.S [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Linki