As topsy-turvy as our
Supreme Court is today, we had a similar situation in the early 1800s (minus
the charges of excessive drinking and sexual assault).
The Federalists had installed judges,
including Supreme Court justices, who were proponents of a strong, national
government. President Thomas Jefferson, much more of a states’ rights
politician, entered office as a Democratic-Republican.
The shift from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson was similar to Obama-to-Trump,
even with respect to treatment of blacks (abolitionist to large slave owner).
Before leaving office, John
Adams and allies in the Senate stuffed the courts with Federalists, some of whom
were quite partisan. This included Samuel Chase, a distinguished politician but
like Brett Kavanaugh, a man with many political enemies.
Jefferson and his party
repealed the federal judiciary act—the idea being to remove every federalist
judge below the Supreme Court who had a lifetime appointment! They passed a new
judiciary act and tried to restock the court with their partisans!
Chase, two years after the repeal in
May 1803, stated that Jeffersonian Republicans would “take away all security
for property and personal liberty, and our Republican constitution will sink
into a mobocracy.”
Jefferson urged his allies to reduce
the Federalist influence on the judiciary by impeaching and removing Chase.
The House of Representatives served
Chase with eight articles of impeachment in late 1803. The charges were
specific but had the theme of improper partisan influence in his rulings—basically,
an unfair justice.
One charge focused on his
judicial demeanor, alleging that he was “intemperate and inflammatory …
peculiarly indecent and unbecoming … highly unwarrantable … highly
indecent" in his public remarks.
The House voted on March 12, 1804, 73
to 32, to impeach Chase.
The Senate was controlled by the Jeffersonian
Republicans.
The strongest allegation was that
political bias caused Chase to treat defendants in a
blatantly unfair manner.
Chase's defense lawyers argued that
all of his actions had been motivated by adherence to precedent, judicial duty
to restrain advocates from improper statements of law, and considerations of
judicial efficiency.
The Senate voted to acquit Chase of
all charges on March 1, 1805.
Under the evolving circumstances,
if Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed and seated on the Supreme Court, this precedent
will not be lost on Democratic lawyers.
What they would do with
this precedent is not clear (a two-thirds vote is necessary to convict on an impeachment charge), however, there are enough parallels to suggest
that the seating of Justice Kavanaugh could simply be a prelude to a larger
constitutional crisis.
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