Justice Samuel Chase was impeached on this day in 1804, at the urging of then-President Thomas Jefferson, for refusing to dismiss biased jurors and excluding or limiting defense witnesses in cases with political implications. His case set the standard that an indictable offense was necessary to meet the standard for "high crime or misdemeanor" for the impeachment of judges, not just matters of judgment or behavior.
Chase joined the Supreme Court in 1796. A strong supporter of the Federalists, he remained an ardent partisan while on the nation's highest court, including using his perch to campaign for John Adams in 1800. That drew the ire of the Jeffersonian Republicans who held both Congress and the White House. The impeachment served as a way to push back against Federalist influence over the courts as well as a dispute over conduct.
The justice was the third official ever impeached and only the second judge—the first had been removed for drunkenness and insanity. The trial managers argued that he'd acted arbitrarily and unjustly in some of his acts on the bench.
His case was brought in January 1805. He was acquitted that March, nearly a year after the charges were initially brought, when none of the articles of impeachment received the required two-thirds majority of votes to convict him, thanks to the effective work of his defense attorneys. Eight federal judges have been removed by impeachment since.
Chase remained a justice until he died in 1811.
You can see a tally of the votes in his trial at the National Archives website.
