Can a Supreme Court justice be forcibly removed from the bench? A quick civics lesson.
There he went again.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whom my Washington Post colleague Robert Barnes called “the reigning champion of provocation at the high court,” just stirred up another controversy with comments about why African Americans might be better off if they are not accepted into top colleges and universities but rather to “slower-track” schools where “they do well.”
Scalia made the comments during a court hearing in a case challenging the race-conscious admissions plan at the University of Texas at Austin. You can read the transcript here, but suffice here to say that they were labeled downright racist by critics and simply wrong by the more generous.
Not surprisingly, there are new calls for Scalia to leave the court, including a petition on Change.org. Given that Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, is it possible for them to be forced off the bench if they don’t want to go?
Yes — but it’s a most highly unlikely prospect.
The Constitution grants Supreme Court justices a lifetime appointment if they choose to stay by not specifying a time or age limit of service. The purpose of a lifetime appointment was to give them freedom to make decisions without interference from the executive or legislative branches of government. But the Constitution leaves open the possibility of impeachment and removal by Congress. In U.S. history, one justice was impeached, but not convicted, and one justice resigned under the threat of impeachment.
Section 1 of Article 3 of the Constitution says:
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
The single justice impeached but subsequently not forced out was Samuel Chase, a longtime Maryland legislator who was appointed to the court as an associate justice by President George Washington on Jan. 26, 1796, and who served there until his death on June 19, 1811.
In 1804, eight articles of impeachment accused him of allowing his political views to interfere with his decisions. This description of events comes from the U.S. Senate’s website:
Samuel Chase had served on the Supreme Court since 1796. A staunch Federalist with a volcanic personality, Chase showed no willingness to tone down his bitter partisan rhetoric after Jeffersonian Republicans gained control of Congress in 1801. Representative John Randolph of Virginia, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson, orchestrated impeachment proceedings against Chase, declaring he would wipe the floor with the obnoxious justice. The House voted to impeach Chase onCan a Supreme Court justice be forcibly removed from the bench? A quick civics lesson. - The Washington Post:
