Last update:
20-Dec-2010

Who has been impeached?

The American Constitution allows civil officers, including the President and Vice President, to be impeached. This is a process which, in the normal course of law would be the process of charging and taking someone to trial - but with impeachment, the trial is in the Senate and the penalties are limited to removal and barring from office.

The first impeachment was William Blount, a senator from Tennessee, in 1797. Since then, impeachment proceedings have been taken against over sixty officers, although only sixteen (including Clinton) have ended up facing trial in the Senate. Nixon resigned after the Articles of Impeachment had been filed by the Judiciary Committee, but before the House of Representatives voted on them. Andrew Johnson is, so far, the only President to have actually had a trial in the Senate. The charges against him were that he had removed the War Secretary without the approval of the Senate, as required under the Tenure of Office Act - ironically, this very Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1926.

The following table shows all those who have been through impeachment and trial in the Senate (those highlighted in pink were convicted). Note that the dates given are for the year in which they were impeached, and the year in which the final judgment was made. Some references give the dates as the start of the impeachment process.

Date of Impeachment	Name	Office	Tried for	Result
1798	William Blount	Senator	Inciting Indians against king of Spain to wrest Louisiana and Florida from Spain and return them to the English.	Dismissed 1799 Senate voted 14:11 that he wasn't a civil officer
1803	John Pickering	District Judge	Drunkenness, tyrannous conduct, blasphemy and disregard for statutes	Convicted 1804 20:6
1804	Samuel Chase	Associate Justice of Supreme Court	Intemperate, arbitrary and injudicial conduct in sedition trials	Acquitted 1805
1826	James H Peck	District Judge	Typrannous treatment of counsel and arbitrary conduct	Acquitted 1831
1862	West H Humphreys	District Judge	Supporting the secession of Tennessee, organising armed rebellion against the USA, being a judge in the Confederate Government, failing to fulfill his duties)	Convicted 1862
1867	Andrew Johnson	President	Attempted illegal removal of war secretary, inducement of a General to violate an act of Congress and contempt and reproach of Congress	Acquitted 1868 35:19 a margin of 1 vote
1876	William Belknap	Secretary of war	Accepting profits from someone he appointed to an Army trading post	Acquitted 1876 although he had already resigned
1903	Charles H Swayne	District Judge	Maliciously imprisonment, falsifying expense accounts, non-residence & use of private car belonging to a company in receivership	Acquitted 1905
1912	Robert W Archbald	Judge of Commerce Court	Using official position for private gain	Convicted 1913
1926	George English	District Judge	Using his office for monetary gain and judicial misconduct	Resigned 1926
1932	Harold Louderback	District Judge	Using his position for personal gain (including favouritism in appointing receivers)	Acquitted 1933
1936	Halstead L Ritter	District Judge	Bringing his court into disrepute (through bankruptcy irregularities & income tax evasion)	Convicted 1936
(1974)	Richard Nixon	President	Obstructing justice, abusing constitutional authority, and failing to obey subpoenas	Resigned 1974 before being impeached
1986	Harry E Claiborne	District Judge	Filing a false tax return (had already been convicted in federal court)	Convicted 1986
1988	Alcee L Hastings	District Judge	Perjury & bribery (although he was acquited by a jury on the charges)	Impeached in 1988, and convicted by the Senate in 1989.
1988	Walter L Nixon	District Judge	Making false statements to a Grand Jury (investigating bribery allegations)	Impeached & convicted by the Senate in 1989.
1998	William J Clinton	President	Perjury before a Federal Grand Jury & Obstruction of Justice (the other two charges, Perjury in Paula Jones case & Abuse of Power were not upheld)	Impeached on 19th Dec 1998, but acquitted by Senate in 1999
2009	Samuel B Kent	District Judge	Sexual assault against two female court employees and making false statements. In May 2009 he was sentenced to a 33-month jail term for the latter charge.	Impeached on 19th June 2009, but the Senate trial was formally dropped on 20th July following Kent's resignation.
2010	Thomas Porteous	Federal Judge	Four charges of corruption. He first failed to recuse himself in a case where he had "corrupt financial relationships" with attorneys. In addition he had demanded "gifts" from a bail bondsman, had lied during bankruptcy proceedings against him, and had lied about his corrupt activities during his nomination process.	Impeached on 11th March, 2010, and convicted (and removed from office) by the Senate on 8th December, 2010.