Judicial Misconduct Quotes
Chase a Supreme Court justice at the time was a very partisan Federalist. The Senate was controlled by the Democratic Republicans. Randolph, then a member of the House of Representatives, orchestrated the impeachment of Chase because of his extreme partisanship. The Senate in trying the case had to decide for the first time what “high crimes and misdemeanors” the actually means in terms of impeachment. A number of the Democratic Republicans joined the Federalists in taking the view that however undesirable the Supreme Court justice’s partisanship would be, that did not reach the threshold of a “high crime and misdemeanor.” Chase was acquitted. In this sense this impeachment trial was similar to that of President William Clinton almost 200 years later. The behavior was undesirable but did not amount to a high crime and misdemeanor, Clinton was also acquitted.
Adopted by the original Edinburgh Review Magazine as its motto.
“Magistrate” has the meaning of leading public official of an area. Mayors are often called the Chief Magistrates of the city, for example.
This is the earliest surviving attempt of the Romans to formulate a legal code.
Named after penal reformer Johne Howard, 1726-1790. Howard Associations have since been organized in many countries.
Presidential dissatisfaction with the judiciary is an old and common problem.
The reason that this quotation is particularly important is that Taft, in addition to being a President, was also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the only Supreme Court Justice to become President.
