Saturday, November 19, 2011

Who presides over the impeachment of the Chief Justice?

The Chief Justice presides over impeachment of federal officials, but what if the Chief Justice is being impeached? Who heads the trial?|||The only time a special person is named to head the trial is for the impeachment of the president (since the VP would have a conflict of interest since he's next in line). In all other cases, the normal leaders of each house would do it. This would be the Speaker of the House for the House of Representatives, and the president pro-tempore or the Vice President for the Senate.|||If the Chief Justice of the United States was being impeached, the Constitution does not designate a special person to preside over such proceedings. So the Speaker of the House or her designee would still preside over the House, and the Vice President of the United States or President Pro Tem of the Senate or their designee would preside over the Senate. (The only case were the Constituion designates a special presider is when the President of the United States is being tried by the Senate.)|||The U.S. Constitution states that all justices of the Court "shall hold their offices during good behavior," meaning that the appointments only end when a justice dies in office, chooses to resign, or is impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate.

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