{{Short description|American judge}} {{More footnotes|date=December 2019}} {{Use American English|date=June 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = James Peck |image = JamesHPeck.jpg |office = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Missouri]] |appointer = [[James Monroe]] |term_start = April 5, 1822 |term_end = April 29, 1836 |predecessor = Seat established |successor = [[Robert William Wells]] |birth_name = James Hawkins Peck |birth_date = {{birth date|1790|1|12}} |birth_place = [[Jefferson City, Tennessee|Jefferson City]], North Carolina, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1836|4|29|1790|1|12}} |death_place = [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]], Missouri, U.S. }}
'''James Hawkins Peck''' (January 12, 1790 – April 29, 1836) was a [[United States federal judge|United States district judge]] of the [[United States District Court for the District of Missouri]].
==Education and career== Peck was born on January 12, 1790, in Mossy Creek (now [[Jefferson City, Tennessee|Jefferson City]]), North Carolina ([[Southwest Territory]] from May 26, 1790, State of Tennessee from June 1, 1796). During the [[War of 1812]], he joined Taylor's Brigade of the Tennessee Militia in September 1814 as an Assistant Topographic Engineer.<ref>Teller, Susan Moore. ''Adam the Younger 1791-1866 in the War of 1812, The Second American Revolution'', chapter on [https://books.google.com/books?id=TJrjDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 James Hawkins Peck"], [[Lulu Press, Inc.]], August 18, 2016, pages 41-42. {{ISBN|9781365322082}}</ref><ref>Goodpasture, Ernest W. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/45331585 "General Nathaniel Taylor and Some Papers Relating to His Service in the War of 1812"], ''The American Historical Magazine and Tennessee Historical Society Quarterly'', [[Tennessee Historical Society]], volume 9, number 2, April 1904, page 200. Note: General Nathaniel Taylor commanded the Taylor's Brigade.</ref> He entered private practice in Tennessee until 1818. He continued private practice in [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri Territory]] (State of Missouri from August 10, 1821) from 1818 to 1822.<ref name="auto">{{FJC Bio|1856|nid=1386186|name=James Hawkins Peck<!--(1790–1836)-->}}</ref>
==Federal judicial service== Peck was nominated by President [[James Monroe]] on March 26, 1822, to the [[United States District Court for the District of Missouri]], to a new seat authorized by 3 Stat. 653. He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on April 5, 1822, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on April 29, 1836, due to his death in [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]], Missouri.<ref name="auto"/>
===Allegations of abuse of power, impeachment and acquittal=== Peck was involved in several land claim cases arising out of the [[Louisiana Purchase|Louisiana territory purchase]]; in one such case in 1825 he ruled against the client of the lawyer [[Luke Lawless]] and published his opinion in a St. Louis newspaper the following year.<ref name="archive.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/DLJ49P1.HTM|title=Jonathan Turley, Senate Trials And Factional Disputes: Impeachment As A Madisonian Device, 49 Duke L. J. 1 (1999)|date=18 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318072251/http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/DLJ49P1.HTM|archive-date=2006-03-18}}</ref> In response, Lawless posted an anonymous letter rebutting Peck's ruling in another newspaper.<ref name="archive.org"/> The authorship of the letter soon became known and Peck found Lawless in contempt of Court for:<ref name="archive.org"/>
''Intent to impair the public confidence in the upright intentions of said court, and to bring odium upon the court, and especially with intent to impress the public mind, and particularly many litigants in this court, that they are not to expect justice in the cases now pending therein.''<ref name="archive.org"/>
Peck had Lawless placed in jail for 24 hours and removed his right to practice in a federal court for 18 months.<ref name="archive.org"/> Lawless began a crusade against Peck, which included submitting his own memorial for impeachment to the House.<ref name="archive.org"/> This memorial resulted in [[Impeachment]] charges before the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref name="archive.org"/>
Peck was [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeached]] by the [[United States House of Representatives]] on April 24, 1830, on a charge of abuse of the contempt power.<ref name="archive.org"/> The [[United States Senate]] began his [[Federal impeachment trial in the United States|impeachment trial]] on April 26, 1830, and acquitted him on January 31, 1831, with 21 voting guilty and 22 voting not guilty.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-HPREC-HINDS-V3/GPO-HPREC-HINDS-V3-22|title=govinfo|website=www.govinfo.gov}}</ref><ref name="archive.org"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *{{FJC Bio|1856|nid=1386186|name=James Hawkins Peck<!--(1790–1836)-->}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-318.pdf|title=Impeachment – A Constitutional Primer|publisher=Cato Institute|last=Vicente|first=Jason J.|date=September 18, 1998}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/DLJ49P1.HTM|title=Jonathan Turley, Senate Trials And Factional Disputes: Impeachment As A Madisonian Device, 49 Duke L. J. 1 (1999)|date=18 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318072251/http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/DLJ49P1.HTM|archive-date=2006-03-18}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-new|seat}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States District Court for the District of Missouri]]}}|years=1822–1836}} {{s-aft|after=[[Robert William Wells]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, James Hawkins}} [[Category:1790 births]] [[Category:1836 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century American politicians]] [[Category:American militiamen in the War of 1812]] [[Category:Impeached United States federal judges]] [[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri]] [[Category:Lawyers from St. Louis]] [[Category:People from Jefferson County, Tennessee]] [[Category:People from Tennessee in the War of 1812]] [[Category:United States Army officers]] [[Category:United States federal judges appointed by James Monroe]]