Draft:Impeachment in Pennsylvania
In the United States state of Pennsylvania, the practice of impeachment has existed since its colonial era as the Province of Pennsylvania and has continued into its existence as a state. Impeachment allows a legislative body to remove an official from office after a trial.
Colonial impeachments[edit]
Peter Hoffer and N. E. H. Hull have observed that Pennsylvania was the only of the Thirteen Colonies that "could base its impeachments upon its charter."[1] In its nineteenth article the 1682 Frame of Government of Pennsylvania ("Charter of Liberties") gave the Assembly the power to "continue so long as may be needful to impeach Criminals fit to be there impeached." The 1682 Charter of Liberties assigned responsibility for hearing impeachment trials to the Council and governor. A two-thirds vote would be required to convict.[1][2]
Nicholas More (chief justice) in 1685[edit]
Nicholas More, the chief justice of Pennsylvania, clerk of the Council, and provincial secretary, was impeached in 1685. Having no legal training, More poorly conducted himself in managing his offices. His actions annoyed the colonies lower house, the Assembly.[1]
Assembly Speaker John White interpreted the nineteenth article of the Frame of Government as granting the body a power similar to the English Parliament’s impeachment powers allowing it to indict for "illegal acts".[1]
Peter Hoffer and N. E. H. Hull have summarized the ten articles of impeachment that were adopted by the Assembly against More as including charges accusing him of:[1]
- Issuing an irregular writ
- Excluding a man from jury duty
- Refusing to accept a jury's verdict
- Changing a charge
- Bullying a witness
- Abusing other judges
- Reversing a lower court decision
- Missing circuit in the lower counties during a session of court
- Acting in contempt of the president of the Council and the Council
In anticipation for an impeachment trial in the Council, an eleventh article of impeachment was added by the impeachment managers (prosecutors) that were assigned by the Assembly alleging disregard for his duties.[1]
The impeachment was never tried by the Council. William Penn was away from the colony at the time of the impeachment.[1] A letter outlining the impeachment was forwarded to Penn. Penn did not give his approval to More's impeachment. Penn was had confidence in More's abilities to perform in office and soon nominated him in 1686 to instead serve as one of the five commissioners for the executive branch of the Pennsylvania government. This effectively removed him from his office as chief justice.[1][3] However, More was later appointed back to again serve as the chief justice of the colony of Pennsylvania.[3]
James Logan (Provincial Council member) in 1707[edit]
William Moore (justice of the peace) in 1754[edit]
Statehood impeachment law[edit]
Impeachments since statehood[edit]
https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20230726/175125-july26-kimward%27sbrief.pdf
Francis Hopkinson in 1780[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and acquittal[edit]
Alexander Hamilton served as counsel to Hopkinson during his impeachment trial.[4]
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up
Pages 3 and 62
John Nicholson (comptroller general) in 1793[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and acquittal[edit]
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up
Pages 67 and 762
Alander Addison (district judge) in 1802[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and conviction[edit]
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008587570
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up Page 345
Supreme Court Justices Thomas Smith, Edward Shippen, and Jasper Yates in 1804[edit]
Impeachments[edit]
Trial and acquittals[edit]
Thomas Smith (associate justice) Edward Shippen IV (chief justice) Jasper Yates (associate justice)
Thomas McKean (governor) in 1807[edit]
Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Judges Thomas Clark, Walter Franklin, and Jacob Hibshman in 1817[edit]
Impeachments[edit]
On January 29, 1817, a memorial was presented to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives complaining of misconduct by both Walter Franklin, president judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County, and Jacob Hibshman, associate judge of the same court. This report was referred to a committee, which prepared a report recommending impeachments. Articles of impeachment were written against President Judge Walter Franklin and Associate Judges Jacob Hibshman and Thomas Clark.[6]
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.74677493&view=1up&seq=471&skin=2021
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up Page 351
Trial and acquittals[edit]
On March 10, 1818, the Senate convened for the impeachment trial
https://www.newspapers.com/image/556559832
Walter Franklin (president judge of the Courts of Common Pleas for Lancaster and York Counties) in 1825[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and acquittal[edit]
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up Page 352
Seth Chapman (judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania) in 1825[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
In
Trial and acquittal[edit]
Robert Porter (judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania) in 1825[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and acquittal[edit]
Rolf Larson (associate justice of the Supreme Court) in 1994[edit]
Impeachment[edit]
Trial and conviction[edit]
Larry Krasner (district attorney of Philadelphia) in 2022[edit]
Impeachment managers were named
Other statehood impeachment efforts[edit]
https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniastat00hoga/page/n5/mode/2up Page 352
Robert B. Woodside, Pennsylvania Constitutional Law, at 364-67 (1985)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hoffer, Peter C.; Hull, N. E. H. (1978). "The First American Impeachments" (PDF). The William and Mary Quarterly. 35 (4): 653–667. doi:10.2307/1923209. ISSN 0043-5597. JSTOR 1923209. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
- ^ "1682: Charter of the Liberties and Frame of Government of Pennsylvania | Online Library of Liberty". oll.libertyfund.org. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ^ a b Biographers, Distinguished (1936). The National Cyclopaedia of American biography. New York: James T. White editor. p. 339.
- ^ a b "Minnesota State Law Library: Trial Collection Bibliography, part 4". www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us. Minnesota State Law Library. 23 February 2004. Archived from the original on February 23, 2004.
- ^ The Pennsylvania State Trials: Containing the Impeachment, Trial, and Acquittal of Francis Hopkinson, and John Nicholson, Esquires. The Former Being Judge of the Court of Admiralty, and the Latter, the Comptroller-general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Francis Bailey. 1794. pp. 22–24, 56–62, 762–772. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Walter Franklin". Newspapers.com. Lancaster New Era. August 9, 1913. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ See Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vol. 27, appendix (1816) (appendix entitled: Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of Pennsylvania, Sitting as the High Court of Impeachment on the Trial of an Article of Accusation and Impeachment Preferred by the House of Representatives, Against Walter Franklin, President, and Jacob Hibshman and Thomas Clark, Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. pp. 316–318, Appendix 10-12. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- ^ "Lancaster Intelligencer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania". 18 March 1825.
- ^ Journal of the Court of Impeachment, for the Trial of Walter Franklin, Esquire, President Judge of the second judicial district of Pennsylvania, for Misdemeanors in Office, Before the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). 1824. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
Pennsylvania Penn Category:Government of Pennsylvania Category:Province of Pennsylvania Category:Political history of Pennsylvania Category:Pennsylvania General Assembly
