AMENDMENT 580 RATIFIED

Amendment of Article VI.

Amendment of Article VI.

Section 6.18A.

Impeachment provisions in Article VII, Section 173 to apply to Supreme Court Justices and appellate judges.

In addition to the authority conferred on the Court of the Judiciary in Section 6.18, the provisions for impeachment in Article VII, Section 173, shall also apply to Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Courts of Appeals. No proceeding for impeachment under Article VII, Section 173, may proceed or be initiated against a judge while the same charge or subject matter is under consideration by the Judicial Inquiry Commission or the Court of the Judiciary. A finding of lack of probable cause or a termination of proceeding without a finding of wrongdoing by either the Judicial Inquiry Commission or the Court of the Judiciary shall constitute a complete defense to proceedings of impeachment under Article VII, Section 173, and shall bar all further proceedings of impeachment as to the same charge or subject matter. No justice or judge who has been tried before the Court of the Judiciary shall be subject to impeachment on the same charge or subject matter. No conduct that occurred prior to the effective date of this amendment may be the basis of a proceeding of impeachment under this section. No proceeding in impeachment under this section may be initiated without the verification, under oath, of at least 12 members of the House of Representatives as to the factual basis of the charge under which the article of impeachment is preferred. No article of impeachment shall be passed upon less than two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives and no conviction of impeachment shall be had upon less than two-thirds majority of the Senate under this section. Dissatisfaction with the ruling of a judge or justice shall not be a ground upon which impeachment under this section may proceed.