Today in Supreme Court History: February 21, 1868

2/21/1868: President Johnson orders Secretary of War Edwin Stanton removed from office. In Myers v. U.S. (1926), the Supreme Court found that Johnson's actions were lawful.

President Andrew Johnson

Comments

[tuphat]

2/20/2026: Chief Justice Roberts discovers he has at least one testicle.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Holmes, McReynolds, and Brandeis dissented in Myers.

The proper dividing line regarding the removal power was disputed from the beginning. The First Congress split around four ways. Hamilton noted he changed his mind since writing The Federalist Papers. It is one of those hazy matters of constitutional interpretation best left to the political process.

The technical power of President Johnson to remove Stanton was used by moderates as a "smoking gun," leading to impeachment, but others opposed him on wider grounds. The actual impeachment counts also went beyond that act.

Nixon [not that one] v. U.S. held that impeachment trials were political questions. Except for perhaps something as glaring as not using the required supermajority, impeachment questions were left to Congress.

The same overall is how removal should be handled.

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Gonzalez v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, involving applying RFRA, was also decided today. You can check on Oyez to hear CJ Roberts amuse Ginsburg by saying the case name with suitable vigor.