New Hampshire Supreme Court

The 24-member Judicial Council is an ongoing, independent forum for consideration and discussion of issues involving the administration of justice.In 2004, RSA Chapter 494-A came into effect codified the JCC as being completely independent of the New Hampshire court system and other branches of government.The legislature effectively left the rules the JCC intact, except where they contradicted the RSA Chapter 494-A.In mandatory appeals, the parties generally are given the opportunity to submit a transcript of the lower court proceedings and to file written briefs.In December 2000, the Supreme Court instituted a Three Judges Expedited (3JX) summary procedure to reduce cases requiring oral argument.A unanimous judgement of all three justices is necessary for the panel to issue an Order binding only the present case, it contains no precedential value.A split decision of the 3JX panel will cause a case to be rescheduled for oral argument in front of all five justices.The state constitution provides two methods for removing judicial officers, based on who is bringing such action: In 1790, the first impeachment trial of a Supreme Court justice was commenced against Judge Woodbury Langdon from Portsmouth, a brother of Governor John Langdon.The House of Representatives voted 35–29 to impeach him for neglecting his duties; finding that he had failed to attend sessions of the Supreme Court in outlying counties and that charging the legislature had failed to provide an honorable salaries for judges and interfered in court decisions.On March 31, 2000, State Attorney General Philip T. McLaughlin issued a report entitled "In re: W. Stephen Thayer, III and Related Matters," which brought to light information raising concerns about the conduct of justices of the Supreme Court.The key to the investigation was an unsigned memo, attributed to Supreme Court Clerk Howard Zibel, which was delivered to the Attorney General by Brock's personal lawyer.The committee conducted its investigation and it proposed the House adopt HR 51, "A RESOLUTION recommending impeachment of supreme court chief justice David A. Brock," which is authored.Representatives voted by simple majority, 253 to 95, to impeach Brock on all four charges and sent the case to the Senate for trial.