An Ignominious Footnote to Bacon-Related History

One of America’s founding fathers is finally getting his due: Old Bacon Face. That was the moniker bestowed upon Samuel Chase — an Annapolis, Md. lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the U.S. Supreme Court — whose mug had a reddish-brown complexion. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Chase in 1805 for his outrageously partisan behavior on the bench, but the Senate could not muster two-thirds majorities to convict him.

This history lesson comes from the Washington Post in the wake of Democratic presidential candidates calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Chase was the only Supreme Court Justice ever to be impeached.

— JAB