Impeachment in Wisconsin
Impeachment in Wisconsin is the main process by which the Wisconsin Legislature can bring charges and decide whether to remove state officers from their positions. A simple majority of the Wisconsin State Assembly can impeach an officer, after which the Wisconsin Senate acts as the court of trial, where a two-thirds majority is required to convict. In the event of a conviction, the punishment may be removal from office or removal and disqualification to hold state office.
Wisconsin also has an additional impeachment-like option for removal of judicial officers, known as "removal by address". Judges may be removed by address for any reason, but it requires a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the Legislature, and the judge must first be informed of the charges and allowed to make their case to the Legislature. Any elected official in Wisconsin may alternatively be removed through a recall election.
Only one official has ever been impeached in Wisconsin history: state circuit judge Levi Hubbell, in 1853. He was not convicted.
Impeachment law
The impeachment power is defined in Article VII, Section 1, of the Constitution of Wisconsin, which reads, in its entirety:Impeachment in Wisconsin applies to civil officers of the state. However "civil officers" is a term that is not defined. The constitutional grounds for an impeachment are "corrupt conduct in office or for the commission of a crime or misdemeanor."
Impeachment is a two-step process, consisting of a vote in the State Assembly followed by an impeachment trial in the Senate. An impeachment vote in the Assembly requires a vote of the majority of the entire membership. In order to convict in an impeachment trial, two-thirds of senators present must vote to convict.
A conviction will remove an official from their office, and the Senate can choose whether to impose the additional penalty of disqualification from future office. The constitution specifically states that these are the only penalties possible through impeachment, but allows that an impeached officer can separately be liable to indictment and trial through the normal criminal or civil process for the same conduct.
For gubernatorial impeachments, the lieutenant governor is prohibited from presiding or participating in the trial. Impeached judicial officers are suspended from their office until the judgement of the trial.
Other means of removal in Wisconsin
Address (judges)
Wisconsin's constitution includes a separate, broader, impeachment-like option for removal of judges, known as "removal by address". This power is defined in Article VII, Section 13, of the constitution, which reads:Unlike the impeachment section, this section applies only to "any justice or judge". Also unlike impeachment, there are no limitations on the rationale for removal—those addressed can be removed for any reason. But the removal must meet a higher bar of concurrence in the Legislature, requiring two thirds of both chambers.
Removal for cause or disability (state judges)
Since a 1977 amendment, Wisconsin's constitution, in Section 11 of Article VII, also allows for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to censure, suspend, or remove state judges for cause or disability. The section reads:Under current law, judges are eligible for removal if they have engaged in misconduct which includes violations of the judicial ethics code, failure to perform certain job duties, substance abuse which interferes with their job performance, or felony conviction.
Current law also requires that any removal for cause or disability must begin with an investigation by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, with the accused being allowed to respond to allegations, followed by a hearing before a jury or a panel of judges. Recommendations from that panel are then referred to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which can take whatever action they deem appropriate.
Recall (elected state government officials)
Wisconsin's constitution was amended in 1926 to add Section 12 of Article XIII, allowing for citizen-initiated recall of any elected official of state government after the first year of their term has concluded. Recalls are initiated by a public petition, which must be signed by eligible voters of the state, county, or district which elected the official equaling at least 25% of the votes cast in the state, county, or district in the most recent gubernatorial election.Once the petition is filed with the requisite number of valid signatures, the election administrator shall set a recall election for the Tuesday of the 6th week following the petition filing. Unlike impeachment, an officer facing recall may continue to perform the duties of their office until the recall election is held. In the event of an official surviving a recall election, that official cannot be recalled again during the same elected term.
Expulsion (state legislators)
In Wisconsin, state legislators are subject to removal by expulsion. An expulsion occurs when two-thirds of the legislative chamber to which the legislator is a member votes to expel that member.History
Impeachment has been rarely used or threatened in Wisconsin history. Wisconsin has only ever impeached one officer—Wisconsin circuit court judge Levi Hubbell, in the 1853 legislative term. He was ultimately acquitted. In 2023, there was a sudden rash of impeachment threats as Republicans held a rare two-thirds majority in the state senate, and sought to leverage that power against the judiciary and other independent agencies of the state government.Impeachment of Circuit Court Judge Levi Hubbell (1853)
The only impeachment in the state's history occurred in 1853, when Levi Hubbell, a Wisconsin circuit court judge, was impeached by the Assembly for allegations of bribery and corruption. Hubbell had also recently served as chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as the supreme court was made up of the state's five circuit judges between 1848 and 1853.The impeachment effort was led by lawyer Edward George Ryan and other opponents of Hubbell. Ryan and Hubbell had a relationship that had soured years earlier, in part due to Hubbell's refusal to take Ryan's advice while serving on the original incarnation of the Wisconsin Supreme Court about how to address what Ryan considered to be the inadequacies of the court. Their relationship worsened further due to Ryan's anger at how Hubbell presided over a murder trial in which Ryan was the prosecutor.
On January 18, 1853, Ryan told Caleb Cushing that impeachment charges that had been "drawn under the direction of myself and other gentlemen here" had been authored. Hubbell was accused by Ryan of having accepted bribes and having heard cases in circuit court on matters in which he had a personal financial interest. On January 26, William K. Wilson gave State Assembly Speaker Henry L. Palmer a communication signed to "a citizen and elector of the State" which accused Hubbell of "high crimes, misdemeanors, and malfeasances in office." This communication was read in the State Assembly that day. The communication was then, after some discussion, referred to a five-member select committee. On February 23, the select committee reported its recommendation that Hubbell be removed from office, recommending removal by address, a means which would require two-thirds of each house and the approval of the governor. Removal by address would not include a trial stage. However, the State Assembly instead opted to pursue an impeachment, adopting an impeachment resolution. The impeachment resolution was adopted on March 3. A five member Investigating Committee was appointed to author articles of impeachment and present them to the Senate. On March 5, the members of this committee informed the Senate of the impeachment. On March 19, with the redaction of two specifications of the tenth charge, the articles of impeachment were reported to the State Assembly. One March 20, five impeachment managers were appointed by the State Assembly. The full articles of impeachment that contained seventy different specifications were filed with the Senate on March 22, 1853. The articles of impeachment accused Hubbell of such wrongdoings as:
- Accepting bribes
- Having intermediaries recommend judgments and notes to him, and then arranging so that he could preside over cases on those matters
- Handing-down criminal sentence below mandatory minimums
- Presiding both in the circuit and supreme courts on cases for which he had acted as attorney
- Making personal use of money paid to the court
- Biased treatment of parties
- Meddling in lawsuits likely to come before his court or already pending before his court, as well as giving advice on such lawsuits
- Immoral use of his position and his influence; an allegation primarily accusing him of suspicious circumstances in which he lured women into rooms hotels and boarding houses for "private interviews"
At the time of the impeachment, the Democratic Party held majorities in both the State Assembly and Senate. The impeachment trial did not see a partisan divide. It nevertheless, became contentious. Historian and reporter A. M. Thompson observed that the trial, "was not an occasion that called for any display of partisanship, and none was shown. Personal prejudice, hatred, jealousy, and rivalry took its place."
On June 13, 1853, at the start of his impeachment trial, Hubbell plead "not guilty". The trial lasted for almost one month, with the local weather seeing very high temperatures and humidity throughout the trial. Ryan acted as a prosecuting attorney, acting on behalf of the State Assembly. Hubbell was defended by Jonathan Earle Arnold and James H. Knowlton. All attorneys were members of the Democratic Party.
Ryan's arguments were heated and displayed cruelty towards Hubbell. Hubbell's lawyers ignored Ryan's presentation, instead largely focusing on arguing against each charge. They argued that in order to be corrupt conduct or crimes and misdemeanors rising to removal, each alleged act would need to be clearly proven; would have been committed with malicious or guilty intent; and would need to be wrongful, illegal, or unconstitutional. They also told senators that some of the conduct alleged would be encouraged by the low pay which judges received.
Ryan's conduct might have hurt the case against Hubbell. Marilyn Grant observes,
Hubbell was acquitted after none of the charges reached the necessary two-thirds threshold to convict. However, the vote evidenced that the Senate was divided. Only twelve of the twenty-four senators had consistently voted to acquit on every count, with the remaining twelve splitting their votes. Seven of the eleven charges received unanimous acquittal, while the remainder saw a share of senators consider Hubbell guilty. While Hubbell was acquitted in his impeachment trial, he suffered harm to his reputation.
Lawyer and historian Joseph A. Ranney opined that, "Many people at the time felt Ryan went too far in his crusade against Hubbell, but in the long run he may have helped save Wisconsin's justice system from permanent damage", opining that the trial, "made clear that Hubbell's conduct had been far from exemplary and that in future judges would be expected to act impartially both in and outside the courtroom." Ryan went on to become the 5th chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, appointed to the position in 1874.