1965 Oklahoma Supreme Court scandal

On January 21, 1965, state Representative G. T. Blankenship read a summary of a sworn statement from N. S. Corn to the Oklahoma House of Representatives describing how Corn, Samuel Earl Welch, and Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson had all accepted bribes to decide cases pending before the court. An investigative committee of the Oklahoma Bar Association recommended charges be filed against Welch and Johnson.^[2]

A federal grand jury indicted Corn, Welch, Johnson, and former Mayor of Oklahoma City O. A. Cargill. Cargill was eventually convicted of perjury. On March 18, 1965, the Oklahoma House began impeachment proceedings against Welch and Johnson, with Welch immediately resigning. Johnson refused to resign and later became the first impeached and removed justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.^[2]

State Senator Roy Granthan was the prosecutor for the Oklahoma Senate trial of Justice Johnson. N. S. Corn testified that he accepted a bribe and shared it with Johnson, while Johnson took the stand in his defense and denied the allegations. He was ultimately convicted in the Senate by one vote.^[2]

While initially Speaker of the Oklahoma House J. D. McCarty opposed judicial reform, he was later convicted of income tax evasion, allowing Governor Dewey Bartlett to push through reforms. On May 3, 1966, voters approved the creation of the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary. On July 11, 1967, voters approved two state questions to abolish justices of the peace, the county court system, and special courts (replacing them with district courts) and replaced Oklahoma's system of judicial elections with the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission for selecting judges.^[2]