Name John Pickering Role Justice | Education Harvard College | |
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Died | ||
John Pickering (September 22, 1737 – April 11, 1805) served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature, and as judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. He was the first federal official to be removed from office upon conviction by impeachment.
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Early life
Born in Newington, New Hampshire, Pickering studied law at Harvard College and was admitted to the bar after graduating in 1761. He was in private practice in Greenland, New Hampshire and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Start of career
Pickering served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1783 to 1787. In 1787 he was elected to the New Hampshire delegation to the Constitutional Convention, but he declined to serve, instead continuing to practice law in Portsmouth.
In 1790, Pickering was appointed to the New Hampshire Superior Court, where he eventually served as Chief Justice. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1791.
Federal judge
In 1795, an attempt to remove Pickering from the New Hampshire Superior Court due to illness became bogged down in political problems, and therefore the state convinced President George Washington to appoint him to the relatively low workload post of the Federal District Court. On February 10, 1795, Washington nominated Pickering to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire vacated by John Sullivan. The following day, Pickering was confirmed by the United States Senate and received his commission. Pickering assumed the office in April 1795.
By 1800, Pickering had begun to show definite signs of mental deterioration. This became severe enough of an impediment that on April 25, 1801 court staff wrote to the judges of the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit requesting that they send a temporary replacement. The First Circuit appointed Jeremiah Smith, circuit judge, pursuant to § 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1801 to take over Pickering's caseload. With the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1802, which explicitly repealed the 1801 Act, there were no more circuit judgeships and the circuit courts' powers were reverted to what they were prior to the 1802 Act.
Impeachment
On February 3, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent evidence to the House of Representatives against Pickering, accusing him of having made unlawful rulings and being of bad moral character due to intoxication while on the bench in connection with a libel for unpaid duties against the Eliza. The House voted to impeach Pickering on March 2, 1803 on charges of drunkenness and unlawful rulings. Political controversy raged, with Federalists accusing Democratic-Republicans of trying to usurp the Constitution by attempting to remove the Judge from office though he had committed neither high crimes nor misdemeanors as required by the Constitution.
The Senate tried Pickering in absentia, beginning January 4, 1804. The Senate convicted Pickering of all charges by a vote of 19 to 7 on March 12, 1804, thereby immediately removing him from office.
Death and burial
Pickering died in Portsmouth on April 11, 1805. He was buried at North Cemetery in Portsmouth.