Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-715_febh.pdf
Page Number: 44.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

19 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

demand documents.  Impeachments in the States often in-
volved an investigation.  In 1781, the Virginia Legislature
began what Edmund Randolph called an “impeachment” of 
then-Governor Thomas Jefferson.  P. Hoffer & N. Hull, Im-
peachment in America, 1635–1805, p. 85 (1984).  This “most 
publicized  and  far-reaching  impeachment  inquiry  for  in-
competence” included an “ ‘inquir[y] into the conduct of the 
executive of this state for the last two months.’ ”  Ibid.  The 
legislatures of New Jersey, id., at 92, and Pennsylvania, id., 
at 93–95, similarly investigated officials through impeach-
ment proceedings.

Reinforcing this understanding, the founding generation
repeatedly referred to impeachment as an “inquest.”  See 4 
Debates on the Constitution 44 (J. Elliot ed. 1854) (speech 
of  A.  Maclaine)  (referring  to  the  House  as  “the  grand  in-
quest of the Union at large”); The Federalist No. 65, at 397 
(Hamilton)  (referring  to  the  House  as  “a  method  of
NATIONAL INQUEST”); 2 Records of the Federal Convention 
154  (M.  Farrand  ed.  1911)  (record  from  the Committee of 
Detail stating that “[t]he House of Representatives shall be
the  grand  Inquest  of  this  Nation;  and  all  Impeachments
shall  be  made  by  them”);  see  also Mass.  Const.,  ch.  1, §3, 
Art. VI  (1780)  (referring  to  the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives  as  “the  Grand  Inquest  of  this  Common-
wealth”).  At the time, an “inquest” referred to an “[i]nquiry,
especially that made by a Jury” or “the Jury itself.”  N. Bai-
ley, Universal Etymological Dictionary (22d ed. 1770). 

The  Founders  were  also  aware  of  the  contemporaneous
impeachment of Warren Hastings in England, in which the 
House  of  Commons  heard  witnesses  before  voting  to  im-
peach.  P. Marshall, The Impeachment of Warren Hastings
40–41, 58 (1965).  In the first impeachment under the new 
Constitution,  Congressmen  cited  the  Hastings  impeach-
ment as precedent for several points, including the power
to take testimony before impeaching.  7 Annals of Cong. 456 
(1797) (Rep. Rutledge); id., at 459 (Rep. Sitgreaves); id., at