[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 3, Chapters 10 - 14]
[Chapter 14. Impeachment Powers]
[A. Generally]
[Â§ 4. Effect of Adjournment]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 2015-2019]
 
                               CHAPTER 14
 
                           Impeachment Powers
 
                              A. GENERALLY
 
Sec. 4. Effect of Adjournment

    Under parliamentary law, as stated in Jefferson's Manual, ``an 
impeachment is not discontinued by the dissolution of Parliament, but 
may be resumed by the new Parliament.'' (8) Both Judge John 
Pickering and Judge Harold Louderback were impeached by the House in 
one Congress and tried by the Senate in the next.(9) The 
practice at the time of the Pickering impeachment was to present a 
resolution of impeachment to the Senate and then to prepare and adopt 
articles of impeachment for presentation to the Senate. In that case, 
impeachment proceedings begun in the 7th Congress were resumed by the 
House in the 8th Congress.(10)
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 8. House Rules and Manual Sec. 620 (Jefferson's Manual) (1973).
 9. See 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 2319, 2320, for the presentation 
        of the resolution impeaching Judge Pickering, and Sec. 4.1, 
        infra, for the presentation to the Senate of the resolution 
        impeaching Judge Louderback.
10. See 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 2321. For the later practice of 
        presenting to the Senate a resolution together with articles of 
        impeachment, see Sec. 8.1, infra.
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    The question arose in the 73d Congress whether the appointment in 
the 72d Congress of House managers to conduct impeachment proceedings 
against Judge Louderback was such as to permit them to act in that 
function in the 73d Congress without a further grant of authority. The 
House adopted in the 73d Congress a resolution filling vacancies, 
making reappointments, and vesting the managers with powers and 
granting them funds.(11)
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11. See Sec. 4.2, infra.
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    In the case of Judge Halsted L. Ritter, the House authorized and 
the Committee on the Judiciary conducted an impeachment investigation 
in the 73d Congress, with

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the resolution and articles of impeachment being reported and adopted 
in the 74th Congress. Charges of impeachment were offered and referred 
anew to the Committee on the Judiciary in the 74th Congress, but the 
resolution reported and adopted by the House specifically referred to 
the evidence gathered during the 73d Congress as the basis for 
impeachment.(12)
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12. See Sec. Sec. 4.3, 4.4, infra.
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                            Cross References
Adjournments generally and their effect on business, see Ch. 40, infra.
Resumption of business in a new Congress, see Ch. 1, supra.
Resumption of committee investigation into conduct of Judge Ritter, see 
    Sec. 18, infra.
Resumption of proceedings against Judge Louderback in succeeding 
    Congress, see Sec. 17, 
    infra.                          -------------------

Impeachment in One Congress and Trial in the Next

Sec. 4.1 The managers on the part of the House presented articles of 
    impeachment against Judge Harold Louderback on the final day of the 
    72d Congress, and the Senate organized for and conducted the trial 
    in the 73d Congress.

    On Mar. 3, 1933, the last day of the 72d Congress, the managers on 
the part of the House in the Louderback impeachment proceeding appeared 
before the Senate and read the resolution and articles of impeachment. 
The Senate adopted a motion that the proceedings be made a special 
order of business on the first day of the first session of the 73d 
Congress.(13)
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13. 6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 515.
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    The only other occasion where impeachment proceedings continued 
into a new Congress occurred in 1803-04, the resolution of impeachment 
of Judge John Pickering being carried to the Senate by a House 
committee of two members on Mar. 3, 1803, the final day of the 7th 
Congress. The Senate organized for and conducted the trial in the 8th 
Congress.(14)
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14. 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 2319, 2320. Managers had not been 
        appointed nor articles considered in the House by the end of 
        the 7th Congress.
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    It should be noted that in neither the Louderback nor Pickering 
impeachments did the trial in the Senate begin before the adjournment 
sine die of the Congress. The issue whether the Senate could conduct a 
bifurcated trial, part in one Congress and part in the next, has not 
been presented.(15)
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15. For a memorandum as to whether an impeachment trial begun in one 
        Congress could be continued into the next, see 120 Cong. Rec. 
        31346-48, 93d Cong. 2d Sess., Sept. 17, 1974 (insertion by 
        Michael J. Mansfield [Mont.], Majority Leader of the Senate).
            Under parliamentary law, an impeachment is not discontinued 
        by the dissolution of Parliament but may be resumed by the new 
        Parliament. See House Rules and Manual Sec. 620 (Jefferson's 
        Manual) (1973).

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Authority of Managers Following Expiration of Congress

Sec. 4.2 Where the House had impeached Judge Louderback in the 72d 
    Congress but the Senate did not organize for or conduct the trial 
    until the 73d Congress, the House in the 73d Congress adopted 
    resolutions (1) appointing Members to fill vacancies for managers 
    not re-elected and reappointing managers elected in the 72d 
    Congress and (2) granting the managers powers and funds.

    On Mar. 9, 1933, the first day of the 73d Congress, the Senate 
sitting as a Court of Impeachment for the trial of Judge Harold 
Louderback met at 2 p.m., articles of impeachment having been presented 
in the Senate on the last day of the 72d Congress. On Mar. 13, the 
managers on the part of the House, being those Members appointed in the 
72d Congress to conduct the inquiry and re-elected to the 73d Congress, 
appeared for the proceedings of the Senate sitting as a Court of 
Impeachment.(16)
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16. 6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 516.
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    On Mar. 22, the House adopted a resolution electing successors for 
those managers elected in the 72d Congress who were no longer Members 
of the House, and reappointing the former managers. The House discussed 
the power of the House to appoint managers to continue in office in 
that capacity after the expiration of the term to which elected to the 
House.(17)
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17. 6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 517.
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Investigation in One Congress and Impeachment in the Next

Sec. 4.3 The Committee on the Judiciary determined in the 74th Congress 
    that its authority to report out a resolution impeaching a federal 
    judge expired with the termination of the Congress in which the 
    resolution containing charges was introduced and referred to the 
    committee.

    On Mar. 2, 1936, in the 74th Congress, the House was considering a 
resolution and articles of

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impeachment, reported by the Committee on the Judiciary, against Judge 
Halsted L. Ritter, an investigation of his conduct having been made in 
the 73d Congress. Mr. William V. Gregory, of Kentucky, a member of the 
committee, remarked on the effect, in the 74th Congress, of an 
authorizing resolution passed in the 73d Congress: (18)
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18. 80 Cong. Rec. 3089, 74th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Gregory: Mr. Speaker, in view of the statement made by the 
    gentleman from Florida [Mr. Wilcox], and more recently by the 
    gentleman from New York [Mr. Hancock], with reference to what 
    happened in committee, I think it proper I should make a statement 
    at this time.
        The first proceedings in this matter were instituted in the 
    Seventy-third Congress. A simple resolution of investigation was 
    introduced by the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Wilcox]. No one 
    during that session of Congress attempted by resolution or upon his 
    own authority on the floor of the House to prefer impeachment 
    charges against the judge. The Seventy-third Congress died, and the 
    gentleman from Florida [Mr. Green] came before the Seventy-fourth 
    Congress and wanted some action taken upon the resolution which had 
    been introduced in the Seventy-third Congress. I took the position 
    before the Committee--and I think others agreed with me--that with 
    the passing of the Seventy-third Congress it had no power over the 
    resolution of investigation which had been introduced any more than 
    it did in connection with any other bill or resolution that might 
    have been introduced in a previous Congress. Therefore, when the 
    question came up as to voting impeachment charges upon a resolution 
    which was introduced in the Seventy-third Congress, I voted against 
    such action, and I think other Members voted the same way. But when 
    the matter was properly presented at this session of Congress and 
    impeachment charges were made on this floor on the responsibility 
    of the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Green], the matter came before 
    the committee again in regular and proper form, and I then voted to 
    report out this resolution of impeachment.
        I want the Members of the House to understand that the 
    Committee on the Judiciary has not changed its position on this 
    proposition at any time. These are the facts.

Sec. 4.4 Where the Committee on the Judiciary investigated charges of 
    impeachable offenses against a federal judge in one Congress and 
    reported to the House a resolution of impeachment in the next, the 
    resolution indicated that impeachment was warranted by the evidence 
    gathered in the investigation conducted in the preceding Congress.

    On Feb. 20, 1936, the Committee on the Judiciary submitted a 
privileged report (H. Rept. No. 74-2025) on the impeachment of

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District Judge Halsted L. Ritter to the House. The report and the 
accompanying resolution recited that the evidence taken by the 
Committee on the Judiciary in the prior Congress, the 73d Congress, 
pursuant to authorizing resolution, sustained articles of impeachment 
(the charges of impeachable offenses had been presented anew in the 
74th Congress and referred to the committee):

        The Committee on the Judiciary, having had under consideration 
    charges of official misconduct against Halsted L. Ritter, a 
    district judge of the United States for the Southern District of 
    Florida, and having taken testimony with regard to the official 
    conduct of said judge under the authority of House Resolution 163 
    of the Seventy-third Congress, report the accompanying resolution 
    of impeachment and articles of impeachment against Halsted L. 
    Ritter to the House of Representatives with the recommendation that 
    the same be adopted by the House and presented to the Senate.

              [H. Res. 422, 74th Cong., 2d sess. (Rept. No. 2025)]

                                 Resolution

        Resolved, That Halsted L. Ritter, who is a United States 
    district judge for the southern district of Florida, be impeached 
    for misbehavior, and for high crimes and misdemeanors; and that the 
    evidence heretofore taken by the subcommittee of the Committee on 
    the Judiciary of the House of Representatives under House 
    Resolution 163 of the Seventy-third Congress sustains articles of 
    impeachment, which are hereinafter set out; and that the said 
    articles be, and they are hereby, adopted by the House of 
    Representatives, and that the same shall be exhibited to the Senate 
    in the following words and figures, to wit: . . .(19)
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19. 80 Cong. Rec. 2528, 74th Cong. 2d Sess. (report submitted); 80 
        Cong. Rec. 3066, 74th Cong. 2d Sess., Mar. 2, 1936 (report 
        considered in the House).
            For detailed discussion of committee consideration and 
        report in the Ritter impeachment proceedings, see 
        Sec. Sec. 18.1-18.4, infra.
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    Parliamentarian's Note: No resolution was adopted in the 74th 
Congress to specifically authorize an investigation in that Congress by 
the Committee on the Judiciary of charges of impeachment against Judge 
Ritter, the investigation apparently having been completed in the 73d 
Congress but not reported on to the House. Charges were introduced in 
the 74th Congress against Judge Ritter and referred to the committee, 
since the committee could not report resolutions and charges referred 
in the 73d Congress, all business expiring in the House with a 
Congress.(20)
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20. For introduction of charges and a resolution impeaching Judge 
        Ritter in the 74th Congress, see Sec. Sec. 18.2, 18.3, infra.

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