The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-06
Views of Chief Justice Chase.
p the Senate of the limited States

4O VIC OCftNtO W IeS SbssS~ 0sS~bSo
Inasmuch as the sole power to try i'm
parchment is vested by the Constitution in
the Senate, and it is made the duty of the
Chief Justice to preside when the Presi-
dent is on trial, I take the liberty of sub
hitting, very respectfully, some observa-
tions in respect to the proper mode of
proceedings upon the impeachment which
has been preferred by the House of Re-
representatives. against the President now in
office.
That when the Senate sits for the trial of
an impeachment it sits as q court seems
unquestionable.
That for the trial of an impeachment of
the President this court must be consti-
tuted of the members of the Senate, with
the Chief Justice presiding, seems equally
unquestionable.
The Federalist is regarded as the highest
contemporary authority on the construc-
tion of the Constitution and in the sixty
fourth No. the functions of the Sc
nate sitting in their judicial capacity
as q court for the trial of impeachments !"
are examined. In a paragraph explaining
| Court with the Senate in the formation of
the court of impeachments " it is observed
that " to certain extent the benefits of
| that union will be obtained from making
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
the president of the court of impeach-
ments, as is proposed in the plan of the
| Convention, while the inconvenience of
an entire incorporation of the former into
the latter will be substantially avoided"
This was perhaps the prudent mean.
This authority seems to leave no doubt
upon either of the propositions just stated.
And the statement of them will serve to
introduce the question upon which I think
it my duty to state the result of my refec-
tions to the Senate-namely, At what
period, in the case of On impeachment of
the President, should the Court of I'm
parchment organize under oath, as directed
by the Constitution
It will readily suggest itself to any one
who reflects upon the abilities and the
learning in the law which distinguish SO
many senator's that besides the reason
assigned in the Federalist there must have
been still another for the provision re-
curing the Chief Justice to preside in the
court of impeachment. Under the Con-
stitution, in case of vacancy in the Office
OF freSluSug, tuo flSo-4 iCoiucuI 5uC-
ceeds, and it was doubtless thought pru-
dent and BETTING that the next in success
sion should not preside in proceeding
through which a vacancy might be created.
1t was not doubted that the Senate,
while sitting in its ordinary capacity, must
necessarily receive from the House of
Representatives some notice of its inten-
ton to impeach the President at its bar;
but it does not seem to me an unwarranta-
BILE opinion, in view of this constitutional
provision, that the organization of the
Senate as court of impeachment under
the Constitution should precede the actual
announcement of the impeachment on the
part of the House.
And it may, perhaps, be thought still
less unwarranted opinion that articles of
impeachment should only be presented to
court of impeachment that no sum-
mons or other proceedings should issue ex-
cept from the organized court; and that
rules for the government of the proceed
ings of such court should be framed only
by the court itself.
have found myself unable to come to
any other conclusions than these. I can
assign no reason for requiring the Senate
to organize as court under any other
than its ordinary presiding officer for the
latter proceedings upon an impeachment
of the President which does not seem to |
me to apply equally to the earlier.
I am informed that the Senate has pro-
ceeded upon other views; and it is not my
purpose to contest what its superior wis
dom may have directed. AL good citi-
zens will fervently pray that no occasion
may ever arise when the grave proceed /
ings now in progress will be cited as pre-
cedent; but it is not impossible that such |
an occasion may come.
Inasmuch, ; therefore, as the Constitution
has charged the Chief Justice with an i'm
portant function in the trial of an impeach-
ment Of the President, it has seemed to me
fitting and obligatory, where he Is unable
to concur in the views of the Senate con.
corning matters essential to the trial, that
his respectful dissent should appear.
S. P. CHASE,
Chief Justice of the United States.
Washington, March 4, 1868.
Roll pnvd IN IN Waahinofon >24a~ |