Robert Wodrow Archbald - Impeachment

Impeachment

After an investigation by Wrisley Brown, Archbald was impeached by the United States House of Representatives on 13 Articles by a vote of 223 to 1 on July 13, 1912. Articles I, II, III and VI alleged that Archbald had entered into agreements with litigants at a substantial benefit to himself. Article IV alleged a wrongful communication with litigants. Articles V, VII, VIII, IX and X alleged that he had improperly solicited and accepted gifts from litigants. Article XI alleged he had improperly solicited and accepted gifts from attorneys. Article XII alleged he allowed corrupt practices during jury selection. Article XIII alleged a general charge of bringing the Judiciary into disrepute. The offences alleged in Articles I through XI were connected with holidays in Europe and other gifts received from coal mine workers and railroad officials.

On 16 July, the Senate began Archbald's trial. The Senate convicted him of five of the 13 articles on 13 January, 1913. The Senate then voted to disqualify him from further office by a vote of 39 to 35.

The exact division on each Article is as follows:

Archbald was convicted on Articles I, III, IV, V and XIII and was accordingly removed from office. (Article II gained a majority of votes, but not the two-thirds necessary under the U.S. Constitution to convict).

Despite the outcome, Archbald continued to declare his innocence. "I have always known that I have done no wrong and the vote of no one makes it otherwise," he said before leaving for Scranton with his family. "Judge Archbald came as near being an ideal common pleas judge as one can hope to find," one judicial colleague said upon his death. Lawyers eulogized him as a "discriminating practitioner" whose influence "made a deeper impression than any other judge in the history" of Lackawanna County.