Last week the Judiciary Committee of the House voted 15 to 6 to recommend the impeachment of U. S. District Judge George W. English.
The Charges. Trouble was stirred up for Judge English by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and the charges were taken up by the House and investigated. He is alleged to have been tyrannical on the bench; unwarrantedly to have disbarred attorneys; to have allowed his appointee, Charles B. Thomas, referee in bankruptcy, to have improper privileges at the bar; to have had the funds controlled by the court deposited with banks of which he and the referee were stockholders; to have committed other "improprieties and irregularities" which constitute high crimes and misdemeanors. A subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee was last week appointed to draft articles of impeachment.
The Judge. George W. English of Vienna, Ill., was a member of the Illinois legislature, an ardent prohibitionist, and known as a "labor" man. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Wilson in 1917. It is said that labor leaders have now joined in urging his impeachment, and that the Anti-Saloon League after opposing it for a time has given up its opposition.
The Procedure. When articles of impeachment are reported the House votes on them. If they are rejected, the case drops. If they are approved, the Judge is impeached-a procedure roughly corresponding to indictment by a grand jury. The Senate then sits as a court presided over by the Vice President. Judge English will be entitled to be represented by attorneys. The "prosecuting attorneys" will be a Board of Managers (five or seven) appointed by the House from its own members. After the trial the Senate can either acquit the judge or (as a maximum penalty) remove him from office. A two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction.
The Precedents. Only nine times in history has the U.S. Senate tried impeachment cases. Six of the cases were those of federal judges. The nine cases:
1) 1799, Senator William Blount of Tennessee. Case dismissed for want of jurisdiction after he had resigned.
2) 1804, District Judge John Pickering of New Hampshire. Removed from office.
3) 1805, Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Acquitted.
4) 1831, District Judge James H. Peck of Missouri. Acquitted.
5) 1862, District Judge West H. Humphreys of Tennessee. Removed from office.
6) 1868, President Andrew Johnson. Acquitted (by one vote).
7) 1876, Secretary of War William W. Belknap. Acquitted.
8) 1905, District Judge Charles Swayne of Florida. Acquitted.
9) 1913, Associate Justice of the U. S. Commerce Court Robert W. Archibald. Removed from office.
The Prospect. If the House impeaches Judge English, Congress will probably be detained from three to six weeks after its other business is completed. Perhaps Congress may adjourn as expected in May and the President may call a special session of the Senate to try the case. In any event it would keep numbers of Senators in Washington when they would ardently wish to go home to mend their fences before elections next fall. Incidentally it would afford columnists endless material for jokes about "Vienna bred" and "English as he is impeached."