The Constitution permits Congress to remove presidents before their term is up if enough lawmakers vote to say that they committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Only three presidents have been subjected to impeachment proceedings. Two were impeached but acquitted and stayed in office: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 and 1999. A third, Richard M. Nixon in 1974, resigned to avoid being impeached.
First, the House of Representatives votes on one or more articles of impeachment. If at least one gets a majority vote, the president is impeached — which essentially means being indicted. (In both the Nixon and the Clinton cases, the House Judiciary Committee considered the matter first.)
Next, the proceedings move to the Senate, which holds a trial overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. A
team of lawmakers from the House, known as managers, play the role of
prosecutors. The president has defense lawyers, and the Senate serves as
the jury. If at least two-thirds of the senators find the president guilty, he is removed, and the vice president takes over as president.
There are no standard rules. Rather, the Senate passes a resolution first laying out trial procedures. The first time there was an impeachment the initial rules in that case gave four days for the Republican managers to
make a case for conviction. Then another four days for the president’s
legal team to defend him. The Senate
then decided whether to hear witnesses, and if so, whether it would be
live or on videotape. Eventually, the Senate permitted each side to
depose several witnesses by videotape.
In the case of Clinton's Impeachment process it include the terms to lime the number of witnesses and the length of depositions, which intern made it harder to prove a case compared with trials in federal court,
said former Representative Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican who served as
a House manager during the trial and is also a former United States
attorney.
Mr. Clinton was impeached by a Congress in which the opposition party
controlled both the House and the Senate. In Mr. Trump’s case, his party
controls both chambers, making it more politically unappealing for them
to vote to impeach him. Which means even if he is impeached like Clinton he may still have the ability to remain in office and serve out his final term.
Another scenario can occur and its known as the 25th Amendment. Which provides another
mechanism for removing a president.It is geared toward dealing with a
president who becomes too disabled to carry out the duties of the
office, as opposed to presidential lawbreaking.
Bibliography:
https://www.history.com/topics/impeachment-in-us-history
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/impeachment-process-works/story?id=51202880
Interesting post Sydney! I remember being confused as to the difference between impeaching and removing a president from office earlier in the year, so this would've been very helpful. I did some further research into Andrew Johnson's impeachment and found that the crime he committed was violating the Tenure of Office Act passed by Congress, which prohibited him from removing Senate-confirmed officials without approval. He was tried before Congress and only narrowly avoided being convicted, with the vote close to the 2/3 majority it needed. I think the power of impeachment is a very important part of the checks and balances within the government.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-andrew-johnson-impeached