What gives Congress the right to impeach Supreme Court justices?

---

Clarification of Question by danomano-ga on 21 Oct 2002 16:10 PDT

Article 3 section 1 only says that the Judges...shall hold their
Offices during good Behavior, but it doesn't say they can be
impeached. I guess it's kind of implied, but implication doesn't
usually cut it.

Hi,

The power to impeach judges of the Supreme Court comes from three
articles of the U.S. Constitution:

Article I, Section 2
"... The House ... shall choose their speaker and other officers; and
shall have the sole power of impeachment. ... The Senate shall have
the sole power to try all impeachments. ..."

Article II, Section 4
"The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United
States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and
conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and
misdemeanors."

Article III, Section 1
"... The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold
their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times,
receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office."

Since federal judges are considered to be civil officers, it is
Article II, Section 4 that explicitly gives this power to the
Congress.

Here some resources related to judicial impeachment that you may find
interesting:

The Constitution of the United States of America
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.table.html#articleii

Capitol Questions
"Those subject to impeachment are the President, the Vice- President,
'and all civil Officers of the United States,' e.g. cabinet members
and federal judges."
http://www.c-span.org/questions/weekly20.htm

Usurpation Is Not "Good Behavior"
"The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their
offices during good behaviour What is 'good behavior'? That's for
Congress to decide."
http://www.americasfuture.net/1997/may97/97-0504a.html

Exploring the Constitution
http://www.seidata.com/~neusys/colm0078.html

Judicial Activism: A Case for Impeachment
http://www.lawandliberty.org/impeach.htm

Best wishes,

mvguy



Google search used: "U.S. Constitution" impeachment "supreme court"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22U.S.+Constitution%22+impeachment+%22supreme+court%22

Excellent answer! Lots of good data, and very thorough! And links!
What's not to like?

Art. 3, Sect. 1