Near the end of the previous session of Congress, on 2 Mch. 1803, the House of Representatives approved a resolution of impeachment against U.S. district judge John Pickering of New Hampshire, whose erratic behavior, alcoholism, and deteriorating mental health had led to calls for his removal by Langdon and other Republicans. On 20 Oct., the House appointed a committee to prepare articles of impeachment against Pickering. Presenting four articles to the House on 27 Dec., the committee charged Pickering with behaving “contrary to his trust and duty” as a judge, ignoring or violating federal laws, and injuring the public revenue. In addition, the committee accused Pickering of being “a man of loose morals and intemperate habits,” who appeared on the bench in “a state of total intoxication” and frequently invoked the name of God “in a most profane and indecent manner.” After electing 11 managers to conduct the impeachment on its behalf, the House presented the articles to the Senate on 4 Jan. 1804 and the upper chamber organized itself into a court of impeachment on the same day. Dining at the President’s House on 5 Jan., Federalist senator William Plumer of New Hampshire queried TJ on the Pickering case. Plumer readily admitted that the judge was insane, but asked the president whether insanity was a sufficient cause for impeachment and removal from office. TJ replied that if the charges against Pickering in the articles of impeachment were proven, “that will be sufficient cause of removal without further enquiry.” Plumer then steered the conversation toward the preliminary inquiry by the House of Representatives into the “expediency of impeaching” Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. TJ admitted to knowing little about the proceedings, but opined that the House would probably consider Chase’s conduct during the treason trial of John Fries and the sedition trials of Thomas Cooper and James Thomson Callender, especially the Callender trial. Plumer, who feared the actions against Pickering and Chase were part of a broader Republican attack on Federalist judges, recorded that TJ closed their conversation by declaring, “This business of removing Judges by impeachment is a bungling way.” On 12 Jan., the Senate ordered Pickering to appear before them on 2 Mch. to answer the charges against him. Upon receiving the summons, Pickering reportedly “expressed his determination of claiming his trial by battle” and asked the Senate sergeant at arms “to be the bearer of his challenge to Jefferson.” He then declared his intention of going to Washington in order to “convince Jefferson if he does not again retreat beyond the Allegany that other men besides Cornwallis can fight.” Despite his assertions, however, Pickering would not appear at his impeachment trial (JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , 4:383-4, 411, 503, 507-9, 510, 513-14, 515, 516; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820-21, 5 vols. description ends , 3:494-507; Everett Somerville Brown, ed., William Plumer’s Memorandum of Proceedings in the United States Senate, 1803-1807 [London, 1923], 100-101; Peter Charles Hoffer and N. E. H. Hull, Impeachment in America, 1635-1805 [New Haven, 1984], 206-13; Lynn Warren Turner, The Ninth State: New Hampshire’s Formative Years [Chapel Hill, 1983], 209-18; Jeremiah Mason to William Plumer, 29 Jan. 1804, William Plumer Papers, NhHi; Vol. 37:462-3; Vol. 39:368, 422-5, 443-4; Vol. 40:372-3n).