An Independent Judiciary: The Keystone of Our Freedom

Article I of the United States Constitution gives the sole power of impeachment to the House of Repressentatives and the power to try impeachments to the Senate. In this article, Mr. Justice Burton discusses the twelve times in history that the Senate has sat as a court of impeachment. He gives special attention to the trial of Justice Samuel Chase, which is of special importance because, by acquitting the Justice, the Senate settled the question of the independence of the federal judiciary. Mr. Justice Burton's article is taken from an address delivered at the Judicial Conference of the Third Judicial Circuit in Atlantic City on July 7.