18. The first federal official to be removed from office following a conviction of impeachment, the removal of mentally ill John Pickering from the bench became a political football between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist factions in Congress
Practicing as a lawyer prior to the American Revolution, John Pickering became a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1783. Declining to serve as part of the state’s delegation to the Constitutional Convention, Pickering returned his focus to the law. Appointed to the New Hampshire Superior Court in 1790, rising to the rank of Chief Justice, Pickering’s illustrious reputation began to decline as the decade proceeded. Failing to remove Pickering from the bench in 1795 on grounds of illness, New Hampshire instead offloaded Pickering onto the federal system, convincing Washington to name him to the United States District Court.
Worsening, by 1800 Pickering had started to publicly show signs of crippling mental deterioration. Hiring a temporary replacement under the Judiciary Act of 1801, the repeal of the act the following year saw Pickering return to the bench once more. Taking extreme measures to remove the deficient judge, President Jefferson sent evidence to the House of Representatives accusing Pickering of drunkenness, bad moral character, and making unlawful rulings. Escalating into a political controversy, with Federalists accusing Democratic-Republicans of seeking to remove a judge without cause reaching the standards of “high crimes or misdemeanors”, Pickering was convicted in absentia by the Senate and removed from office in 1804.