James H. Peck

Peck was involved in several land claim cases arising out of the Louisiana territory purchase; in one such case in 1825 he ruled against the client of the lawyer Luke Lawless and published his opinion in a St. Louis newspaper the following year.[2] In response, Lawless posted an anonymous letter rebutting Peck's ruling in another newspaper.[2] The authorship of the letter soon became known and Peck found Lawless in contempt of Court for:[2]

Intent to impair the public confidence in the upright intentions of said court, and to bring odium upon the court, and especially with intent to impress the public mind, and particularly many litigants in this court, that they are not to expect justice in the cases now pending therein.[2]

Peck had Lawless placed in jail for 24 hours and removed his right to practice in a federal court for 18 months.[2] Lawless began a crusade against Peck, which included submitting his own memorial for impeachment to the House.[2] This memorial resulted in Impeachment charges before the U.S. House of Representatives.[2]

Peck was impeached by the United States House of Representatives on April 24, 1830, on a charge of abuse of the contempt power.[2] The United States Senate began his trial on April 26, 1830, and acquitted him on January 31, 1831, with 21 voting guilty and 22 voting not guilty.[1][3][2]