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the Senate, which would correspond to the
House of Lords in the English parlia-
mentary system, conduct the trial, we
would vary slightly from that and suggest
that a special tribunal of ten judges hear
the trial and conduct it.
There was some concern that perhaps
there would be a conflict if a judge, for
instance, was up for indictment, for im-
peachment, and the special tribunal would
be the judging body. The committee con-
sidered that objection 'to a trial of judges
by other judges, but we thought that it
was probably 'no more questionable than a
trial of a legislator by his fellow legisla-
tors. We thought that the judges probably
would be specialists in their field and better
able to conduct the trial impartially in an
ordinary judicial fashion. For that reason,
your Committee on Judicial Provision
adopted the draft and recommended to the
Committee of the Whole that the impeach-
ment process be approved in the constitu-
tion as we have it now. We felt that there
was a necessity for the constitutional pro-
vision.
The United States Constitution parallels
the English practices, but I suggest again
that we have varied slightly from that and,
again, we recommend that GP-10 be adopted
by the Committee.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the Committee Chairman?
Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Delegate Boyer,
is it fair to interpret this recommendation
to the extent that it covers the impeach-
ment of judges and their removal from
office under this provision as being supple-
mentary to the provisions of JB-1 which
provided another specific process for the
removal of judges from office?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Boyer.
DELEGATE BOYER: Yes, you are talk-
ing about the disability commission. Yes,
this would be a supplementary proceeding,
Delegate Marion.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions?
Delegate Hanson.
DELEGATE HANSON: Delegate Boyer,
would you explain how your Committee
views a trial for impeachment? I mean
what kind of a process is this? Is this a
judicial process or is it a legislative action
or a political action? Just what is a trial
for impeachment as your Committee sees
it?
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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Boyer.
DELEGATE BOYER: Well, we would
certainly hope that there would be no
politics or political retribution involved
here. The House of Delegates would have
the sole power of impeachment. That is
more or less the grand jury proceeding,
the indictment. If by a three-fifths vote of
the membership of the House there was
found to be justiciable reasons or equitable
reasons for the impeachment proceeding
then it would be turned over with the true
bill of presentment to the ten judges for
the trial of the accused.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hanson.
DELEGATE HANSON: Isn't the his-
tory of impeachment and trials of impeach-
ment by legislative bodies one of seeking
to remove elected officials from office when
there have been no justiciable causes of
action against them in some instances and
in some instances perhaps there were, but
may this not go beyond that?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Boyer.
DELEGATE BOYER: I would concede
that you have a good point there. Of course,
if a public official has been convicted of
some heinous crime that in itself in a court
of law would subject him to removal from
a court office. The impeachment proceeding
would occur when perhaps for some reason
public official "A" has not been convicted
of a felonious crime, and this would be a
supplementary proceeding.
DELEGATE HANSON: Why does your
Committee argue that in such case this
can be conducted better in a tribunal of
judges than before the Senate?
THE CHAIRMAN: You say "in such
case". By that you mean what?
DELEGATE HANSON: He said in cases
of impeachment and particularly in cases
in which either no crime as normally
defined has been committed or at least no
conviction for an alleged crime can be
obtained.
DELEGATE BOYER: We thought that
the judges' experience tended to permit
them a high degree of insulation from the
issues of personality and that their spe-
cialized training would probably allow them
to conduct such proceedings impartially if
it ever became necessary. I think this is
highly improbable, but not entirely im-
possible that the situation might arise.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any other
questions?
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