Impeachment of Judges

Federal judges hold office during good behavior, and the only way to remove one is impeachment by a majority of the House and conviction by two-thirds of the Senate for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The first judge impeached was John Pickering, a district judge in New Hampshire, who was removed in 1804 for drunkenness and erratic conduct on the bench. The only Supreme Court Justice ever impeached, Samuel Chase, was acquitted by the Senate in 1805, a result widely seen as establishing that judges should not be removed for their rulings or political views.

The House has impeached 15 federal judges, and the Senate has convicted and removed eight, most recently Judge Thomas Porteous in December 2010 for corruption. Others resigned before the House or Senate acted. Since 1986 the Senate has often used a committee of senators to take evidence before the full Senate votes, a procedure the Supreme Court declined to review in Nixon v. United States in 1993. For lesser misconduct, the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 lets anyone file a complaint, and judicial councils can reprimand judges or suspend their caseloads but cannot remove them.

In 2025 several members of Congress introduced resolutions to impeach federal judges who had ruled against administration policies, and the President called for some judges' impeachment. On March 18, 2025, the Chief Justice issued a rare public statement that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement with a judicial decision, and the resolutions did not advance. Supporters of using impeachment more broadly say judges who abuse their power should face accountability, while critics say targeting judges for rulings would threaten judicial independence.