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309. A construction has been given to the Constitution by the Court of Impeachınents, by which a member of the Senate was held not to be liable to an impeachment; the term "officers," as used in the Constitution, having been adjudged not to include: Senators; and upon the same principle, members of the House of Representatives must also be exempt from impeachment.

310. The Articles of Impeachment, as the document containing the formal specification of the charge is technically called, need not be drawn up with the precision required in ordinary Indictments, or accusations at Law; but they must be distinct and intelligible, as no one is bound to answer to a charge that cannot easily be understood..

311. As Articles of Impeachment can be exhibited only by the House of Representatives, if the Senate, in the exercise of its Executive functions or otherwise, become apprized of the commission of unlawful acts by a public officer, requiring, in its opinion, a public investigation, it is its duty to communicate the evidence it may possess to the House of Representatives.

312. But the bare communication of the facts would be all that would be consistent with the duty of the Senate on such an occasion. It should carefully avoid recommending or suggesting an impeachment; and the same course should be pursued by the President of the United States, under similar circumstances.

313. No definite number of members is required to constitute a Court; but, as it is in "the Senate," that the power of trying impeachments is vested, the number requisite to constitute a quòrum of that body

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(i. e. a majority of all the Senators appointed,) must also be necessary to constitute the Court; and must be sufficient for that purpose, although no conviction can take place without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

314. The Vice President of the United States, being President of the Senate, presides, when present, in the Court; except when the President of the United States is tried, on which occasion the Chief Justice presides; and the reason which forbids the Vice President to preside in such a case, requires that he should retire wholly from the Court.

315. The Constitution does not declare that the Vice President shall be restricted on the trial of impeachments, as in Legislative proceedings, to a casting vote; and as he is constituted one of the Judges of the Court, by being appointed to preside without. any restriction, it seems to follow that he is entitled to vote in the same manner as the other Judges. The same reasoning would establish a similar right in the Chief Justice, when presiding on the trial of the President.

316. The same general rules of evidence prevail on the trial of impeachments, as in ordinary trials at Common Law; and the respondent or accused party, is entitled to the benefit of counsel; but it is not ne cessary that he should be personally present, as the trial may proceed in his absence, if he have had due notice to appear.

317. When sitting as a Court for the trial of im peachments, the members are put under oath or affirmation. Their consultations, as well on collateral and incidental points, as on the main question, are conducted in private; but the judgment must be ren

dered in public; and can extend no further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under the United States.

318. Although the party impeached may be found guilty of the highest political crime, viz. treason against the United States, yet his life is not thereby put in jeopardy before the Court for the trial of impeachments; and in no case is the liberty or property of a person convicted, affected by the judgment of this tribunal; as prosecution and punishment await him elsewhere, according to the usual course of Law.

319. As by the sentence pronounced on conviction in cases of impeachment, an appointment made by the Executive authority is superseded, and the party is rendered incapable of re-appointment to any office; the President is disabled from granting a pardon, and thus restoring the competency of the offender.

320. But there is no restriction on the power of pardoning for the same act, in case of a conviction in the common course of Law; for the pardon in that case extends only to the punishment imposed by the ordinary tribunals, without affecting the sentence of the Court for the trial of impeachments.

321. The distribution of the Judicial authority of the Union, amongst the several Courts of ordinary Judicature, except in a few specified cases, is devolved on Congress; and in the execution of that power, Congress is not bound to enlarge the jurisdiction of the respective tribunals to every subject, or to vest it in every form, which the Constitution might warrant in reference to each of them in particular.

322. The whole Judicial Power, in some form or other, must nevertheless, in all cases at least in which

it is exclusive of the States, be at all times duly vested and distributed amongst the National Courts; and in all cases where the Judicial Power of the United States is to be exercised, it is for Congress alone to prescribe the rules of proceeding, to direct the process, and to declare its nature and effect, and the mode in which the judgments consequent thereon shall be executed.

323. As the Judicial Power of the United States extends to all the cases enumerated in the Constitution, it may be extended to them by Congress where not restricted by the Constitution, in any form in which the Judicial Power may be exercised-either in the shape of original, or appellate jurisdiction, or both; for there is nothing in the nature of these cases which binds to the exercise of the one, in preference to the other.

324. In order to ascertain to what extent, and in what manner the Federal jurisdiction, both original and appellate, has actually been disposed of, either by the Constitution or by Law, it will be necessary to examine specifically the organization and powers of the several Courts, as ordained by the one, or established by the other.

325. The Supreme Court of the United States, although created by the Constitution, received its present organization from the Judiciary Act of 1789, and the several Laws subsequently passed by Congress in addition to that Statute.

326. The Constitution merely declares that there shall be a Supreme Court, with certain original and appellate powers; and it is only to be implied from that instrument, that the Chief Justice of the United States shall preside in it, with an indefinite number of Judges, to be associated with him.

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327. But the Acts of Congress declare that this Court shall consist of the Chief Justice and six associate Judges, any four of whom constitute a quorum; and they also direct, that it shall hold one term annually, at the seat of the national Government, commencing on the first Monday in January,

328. Although the presence of four of the Judges is required for the general business of the Court; yet any one or more of them may make all necessary orders in a suit, preparatory to the hearing or trial; and it is made the special duty of a particular associate Judge, to attend at Washington annually, on the first Monday in August, for that purpose,

329. The Constitution vests in the Supreme Court, original jurisdiction in all cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls; and in those in which a State may be a party; but the jurisdiction conferred in relation to suits and proceedings against foreign Ambassadors and Ministers, and their domestics, is only such as a Court of Law can exercise consistently with the Law of Nations,

330. In all the other cases enumerated in the Constitution, it vests in the Supreme Court "appellate jurisdiction, both as to the Law and the fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as Congress shall make."

331. In suits and proceedings against Ambassadors, or other public Ministers, or their domestics; and in all controversies of a civil nature, where a State can be made a party, except in suits by a State against one or more of its citizens, against citizens of other States, or against aliens, the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is rendered exclusive by Congress.

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