Nixon v. United States

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with United States v. Nixon, the 1974 case on the powers of President Richard Nixon.

Nixon v. United States
nonjusticiable
because impeachment is a political question.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
Byron White · Harry Blackmun
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Case opinions
MajorityRehnquist, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
ConcurrenceStevens
ConcurrenceWhite (in judgment), joined by Blackmun
ConcurrenceSouter (in judgment)
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Art. I, Section 3, Clause 6

Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993), was a

United States Supreme Court decision that determined that a question of whether the Senate had properly tried an impeachment was political in nature and could not be resolved in the courts if there was no applicable judicial standard.[1]

Background

The Chief Judge for the

constitutional requirement of Article I
for the case to be "tried by the Senate".

Decision

The court's decision was unanimous, but four separate opinions were published. The majority opinion, by

Constitution reserves that function to a coordinate political branch. Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution gives the Senate
the "sole power to try all impeachments." Because of the word sole it is clear that the judicial branch was not to be included. Furthermore, because the word try was originally understood to include factfinding committees, there was a textually demonstrable commitment to give broad discretion to the Senate in impeachments.

Furthermore, the

checked" by impeachments, so judicial involvement in impeachments might violate the doctrine of the separation of powers
.

The Court further ruled that involving the judiciary would prevent finality without clear remedy and bias post-impeachment criminal or civil prosecutions, which the Constitution explicitly allows.

Justices Byron White, Harry Blackmun, and David Souter concurred, but voiced concern that the Court was foreclosing the area for review. While they found that the Senate had done all that was constitutionally required, they were concerned that the Court should have the power to review cases in which the Senate removed an impeached officer summarily without a hearing, or through some arbitrary process such as "a coin toss."

An important feature of this case is how it diverges from

justiciable
because it required a mere "interpretation" of the Constitution.

See also

References

  1. ^ Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993).

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nixon_v._United_States&oldid=1222983925"