Only one Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached. In 1804, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Associate Justice Samuel Chase. The Senate acquitted him the following year, and he returned to the bench. That single case accounts for the entire history of how many Supreme Court justices have been impeached in more than two centuries of American government.
The Chase Impeachment and Why It Still Matters
Samuel Chase was a Federalist appointee who drew fierce criticism from Jeffersonian Republicans for his conduct on the bench. Opponents said he had refused to dismiss biased jurors, limited defense witnesses, and used trials under the Sedition Act as a platform for partisan attacks.1United States Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05
On March 12, 1804, the House approved eight articles of impeachment. Most focused on his handling of Sedition Act trials. One targeted a grand jury charge critics called overtly political, and the final article accused him of turning the judiciary into a tool of partisan electioneering.2Federal Judicial Center. Samuel Chase Impeached
The Senate trial opened in early 1805. A majority voted guilty on three of the eight articles, but none reached the two-thirds threshold the Constitution requires. At least six Jeffersonian Republicans crossed the aisle and joined nine Federalists to acquit Chase on every charge.1United States Senate. Impeachment Trial of Justice Samuel Chase, 1804-05 The acquittal came on March 1, 1805. Chase served until his death in 1811.
The outcome set a precedent that still shapes the limits of impeachment. Unpopular or politically controversial rulings, standing alone, are not enough to remove a judge. In the more than two hundred years since, no Congress has carried a full House impeachment vote against a sitting justice.
Justices Who Came Close
Two twentieth-century justices faced serious impeachment pressure without ever being formally charged.
Abe Fortas
Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigned on May 14, 1969, under heavy pressure from Congress and the press over his finances. The flashpoint was a $20,000 annual retainer he had accepted from the family foundation of Louis Wolfson, a financier later convicted of securities violations. Fortas returned the money, but the disclosure made his position untenable.3The American Presidency Project. Letter Accepting the Resignation of Abe Fortas as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States The House had begun considering an inquiry, and his resignation ended it before any articles were drafted.
William O. Douglas
The following year, Congressman Gerald Ford led an effort to impeach Associate Justice William O. Douglas. In a House floor speech on April 15, 1970, Ford laid out allegations about Douglas’s conduct and asked for a select committee to investigate. Ford argued that “an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers to be at a given moment in history.” A House committee looked into the matter, but the effort never advanced to a vote on articles. Douglas stayed on the bench until he retired in 1975 due to declining health.
What It Takes to Remove a Justice
The Constitution’s standard for removing a federal official, including a Supreme Court justice, is “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article II Section 4 The Founders deliberately rejected looser language. James Madison argued that letting Congress remove officials for “maladministration” would make them serve at the Senate’s pleasure.5Congress.gov. Historical Background on Impeachable Offenses
Judges also hold their offices “during good Behaviour” under Article III, Section 1.6Congress.gov. Overview of Good Behavior Clause Scholars have long argued over whether that clause creates a separate removal standard for judges, but every judicial impeachment in practice has used the Article II standard.7Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated
The procedure runs through both chambers. The House impeaches by simple majority, which works like an indictment.8United States Senate. About Impeachment The Senate then tries the case, and conviction requires a two-thirds vote of senators present.9Congress.gov. Article I Section 3 Conviction removes the official automatically. There is no appeal.
Why the Number Has Stayed at One
The two-thirds Senate threshold is the hardest barrier. Even unified party control rarely produces 67 votes to convict, and the Chase trial showed that senators from the prosecuting party will cross over when the charges look political.
Lifetime tenure also cuts against impeachment. A justice who weathers a controversy can stay on the bench for decades, which makes legislators reluctant to spend political capital on a fight they expect to lose. Resignation does the rest of the work. When pressure builds past a certain point, a justice can step down before formal charges arrive, as Fortas did, and the proceedings end with the vacancy rather than a vote.
The Chase acquittal itself discourages new attempts. Any member of Congress proposing to impeach a justice starts from the same historical baseline: it has been tried once, and it failed.
Lower Federal Judges Are a Different Story
Impeachment has reached the rest of the federal bench far more often. The Federal Judicial Center lists 15 federal judges impeached by the House in American history, a count that includes Chase.10Federal Judicial Center. Impeachments of Federal Judges Of the 14 below the Supreme Court level, eight were convicted and removed; the others were acquitted, resigned, or had their charges dismissed. The convictions have generally involved conduct that would be criminal anywhere, such as tax evasion, perjury, and taking bribes. Disagreement with a judge’s reasoning has not been enough, in the Supreme Court or in the courts below it.