Unnecessary and Improper: The Judicial Councils Reform and Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980

The Framers of our Constitution established a scheme to ensure the strictest scrutiny of the official actions of Article III judges that they thought consistent with an independent judiciary: They specified the House of Representatives as the sole body to accuse,' and the Senate as the sole body to try,2 Article III judges for non-criminal malfeasance.3 Criminal malfeasance by judges could be reached with this impeachment power, but was also subject to prosecution in the common courts of law.4 Fearing its own power of impeachment,5 Congress in 1980 created a non-congressional procedure for accusing, trying, and punishing Article