Impeachment by state and territorial governments of the United States



Similar to the Congress of the United States, state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors and judicial officers, in every state except Oregon. In addition, the legislatures of the territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico have impeachment powers. Impeachment describes the process through which the legislature may bring charges and hold a trial with a penalty including removal from office.

Some aspects of how impeachment is conducted in different states and territories different, however they all commonly follow the bifurcated model used by the federal government of having a legislative chamber first vote to impeach an official before then holding an impeachment trial to determine whether to convict and remove that official.

Impeachment processes by state/territory
Some aspects of how impeachment is conducted in different states and territories different, however they all commonly follow the bifurcated model used by the federal government of having a legislative chamber first vote to impeach an official before then holding an impeachment trial to determine whether to convict and remove that official. This takes cues from the practice of impeachment in England. Like the federal government, most have their lower chamber of their legislatures hold the vote to impeach, and have the subsequent impeachment trial take place in the upper chamber of their legislatures. However, several states do differ from the convention of holding the impeachment trial in their upper chamber. In a reverse, in Alaska it is the upper chamber of the legislature that votes to impeach while the lower chamber acts as the court of impeachment. In Missouri, after the lower chamber votes to impeach, an impeachment trial is held before the Supreme Court of Missouri, except for members of that court or for governors, whose impeachments are to be tried by a panel of seven judges (requiring a vote of five judges to convict), with the members of the panel being selected by the upper legislative chamber, the Missouri State Senate. In Nebraska, which has a unicameral legislature, after the Nebraska Legislature votes to impeach, an impeachment trial takes place before the Nebraska Supreme Court. In addition to all the members of its upper chamber, the state of New York's Court of the Trial of Impeachments also includes all seven members of the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.

Officials impeached by state and territorial governments
There have been in excess of 100 impeachments of officials by state governments.

Double-counting those who were twice-impeached, subjects of state and territorial impeachments have included:
 * 22 governors (20 of state governors, 2 of territorial governors)
 * 1 lieutenant governor
 * 5 attorneys general
 * 7 state treasurers
 * 4 state auditors
 * 51 judges and justices
 * 3 insurance commissioners
 * 4 county sheriffs
 * 2 justices of the peace
 * 2 surveyors

Gubernatorial impeachment
Impeachment and removal of governors has happened occasionally throughout the history of the United States, usually for corruption charges. At least eleven U.S. state governors have faced an impeachment trial; a twelfth, Governor Lee Cruce of Oklahoma, escaped impeachment by one vote in 1912. Several others, including Missouri's Eric Greitens in 2018, have resigned rather than face impeachment, when events seemed to make it inevitable. The most recent impeachment of a state governor occurred on January 14, 2009, when the Illinois House of Representatives voted 117–1 to impeach Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges; he was subsequently removed from office and barred from holding future office by the Illinois Senate on January 29.

There have been eighteen impeachments of state governors (with two state governors having been impeached twice):
 * Charles L. Robinson (Republican governor of Kansas) in 1862
 * Harrison Reed (Republican governor of Florida)
 * In 1868 —originally removed; removal overturned by Florida Supreme Court
 * In 1872
 * William Woods Holden (Republican governor of North Carolina) in 1870 —removed in 1871
 * Powell Clayton (Republican	governor of Arkansas) in 1871
 * David Butler (Republican governor of Nebraska) in 1871 —removed
 * Henry Warmoth (Republican governor of Louisiana) in 1872
 * William Pitt Kellogg (Republican governor of Louisiana) in 1876
 * Adelbert Ames (Republican governor of Mississippi) in 1876
 * William Sulzer (Democratic governor of New York) in 1913 (impeached for false report, perjury, and suborning perjury) —removed
 * James E. Ferguson (Democratic governor of Texas) in 1917 –convicted after first having resigned
 * Jack C. Walton (Democratic governor of	Oklahoma) in 1923 (impeached for a variety of crimes including illegal collection of campaign funds, padding the public payroll, suspension of habeas corpus, excessive use of the pardon power, and general incompetence. In November 1923, Walton was convicted and removed from office) —removed
 * Henry S. Johnston (Democratic governor of Oklahoma) in 1929
 * Huey Long (Democratic governor of Louisiana) in 1929
 * Thomas H. Moodie (Democratic governor of North Dakota) in 1935
 * Evan Mecham (Republican governor of Arizona) in 1988 (impeached for obstruction of justice and misusing government funds) —removed
 * Rod Blagojevich (Democratic governor of Illinois) impeached twice in 2009 (impeached for abuse of power and corruption, including an attempt to sell the appointment to the United States Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Barack Obama) —removed following second impeachment

In addition to the aforementioned state governors, two governors of the Northern Mariana Islands territory have been impeached: Republican Benigno Fitial in 2013 (who resigned) and Republican Ralph Torres in 2022 (who was acquitted).

The National Conference of State Legislatures has observed that gubernatorial impeachment occurs relatively infrequently and has cited two factors in believed to be partially responsible for this:
 * "Impeachment is regarded as a power to be used only in extreme cases"
 * "Individuals frequently resign before the impeachment proceedings begin or are completed"