Who Can Be Impeached by the House of Representatives
"The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Role on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
— U.South. Constitution, Article Two, department 4
/tiles/not-collection/i/i_origins_impeach_stevens_2009_129_001crop.xml Collection of the U.South. Firm of Representatives
About this object Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, a Radical Republican, gave the last spoken communication during House debate on articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson on March 2, 1868. Johnson became the first president impeached by the House, but he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate by one vote.
The Constitution gives the Firm of Representatives the sole power to impeach an official, and it makes the Senate the sole court for impeachment trials. The ability of impeachment is limited to removal from office merely also provides a ways past which a removed officer may be butterfingers from holding time to come office. Fines and potential jail time for crimes committed while in office are left to civil courts.
Origins
Impeachment comes from British ramble history. The procedure evolved from the 14th century as a way for parliament to hold the king'south ministers accountable for their public actions. Impeachment, as Alexander Hamilton of New York explained in Federalist 65, varies from civil or criminal courts in that it strictly involves the "misconduct of public men, or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust." Private state constitutions had provided for impeachment for "maladministration" or "corruption" before the U.S. Constitution was written. And the founders, fearing the potential for abuse of executive power, considered impeachment then important that they fabricated it part of the Constitution even before they defined the contours of the presidency.
Constitutional Framing
During the Federal Constitutional Convention, the framers addressed whether even to include impeachment trials in the Constitution, the venue and process for such trials, what crimes should warrant impeachment, and the likelihood of confidence. Rufus King of Massachusetts argued that having the legislative branch pass judgment on the executive would undermine the separation of powers; ameliorate to let elections punish a President. "The Executive was to concord his place for a limited term like the members of the Legislature," King said, so "he would periodically be tried for his behaviour past his electors." Massachusetts'south Elbridge Gerry, however, said impeachment was a way to proceed the executive in check: "A good magistrate will not fear [impeachments]. A bad i ought to be kept in fear of them."
/tiles/non-drove/i/i_origins_impeachment_lesliesbutler_2016_148_000-21.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
Most this object The nation's outset presidential impeachment riveted the land and dominated America'due south newspapers in 1868, with blow-by-accident illustrations of the events.
Another issue arose regarding whether Congress might lack the resolve to attempt and convict a sitting President. Presidents, some delegates observed, controlled executive appointments which ambitious Members of Congress might find desirable. Delegates to the Convention also remained undecided on the venue for impeachment trials. The Virginia Programme, which set the agenda for the Convention, initially contemplated using the judicial branch. Again, though, the founders chose to follow the British example, where the House of Commons brought charges against officers and the House of Lords considered them at trial. Ultimately, the founders decided that during presidential impeachment trials, the House would manage the prosecution, while the Primary Justice would preside over the Senate during the trial.
The founders as well addressed what crimes constituted grounds for impeachment. Treason and blackmail were obvious choices, but George Mason of Virginia idea those crimes did non include a large number of punishable offenses confronting the state. James Madison of Virginia objected to using the term "maladministration" because information technology was too vague. Mason and then substituted "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" in add-on to treason and bribery. The term "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" was a technical term—again borrowed from British legal practice—that denoted crimes by public officials against the regime. Mason'southward revision was accustomed without further contend. But subsequent experience demonstrated the revised phrase failed to clarify what constituted impeachable offenses.
/tiles/not-collection/i/i_origins_impeachment_watergatetapes_PA2019_12_0027.xml Drove of the U.Due south. Business firm of Representatives
About this object In 1974, presidential impeachment was closely followed by the press, the public, and the House itself.
The Business firm's Role
The House brings impeachment charges against federal officials as part of its oversight and investigatory responsibilities. Individual Members of the Firm can introduce impeachment resolutions similar ordinary bills, or the Firm could initiate proceedings past passing a resolution authorizing an inquiry. The Committee on the Judiciary ordinarily has jurisdiction over impeachments, but special committees investigated charges before the Judiciary Commission was created in 1813. The committee then chooses whether to pursue manufactures of impeachment against the accused official and report them to the total House. If the articles are adopted (by simple majority vote), the Business firm appoints Members by resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf. These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are ordinarily members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials but has traditionally been an odd number. The partisan composition of managers has besides varied depending on the nature of the impeachment, merely the managers, past definition, ever support the House'south impeachment action.
The Use of Impeachment
The House has initiated impeachment proceedings more than than 60 times just less than a third have led to full impeachments. Just eight—all federal judges—have been convicted and removed from office by the Senate. Outside of the 15 federal judges impeached by the Business firm, iii Presidents [Andrew Johnson in 1868, William Jefferson (Neb) Clinton in 1998, and Donald J. Trump in 2022 and 2021], a cabinet secretary (William Belknap in 1876), and a U.S. Senator (William Blount of Tennessee in 1797) accept also been impeached. In only 3 instances—all involving removed federal judges—has the Senate taken the additional step of disallowment them from ever holding future federal part.
Blount'southward impeachment trial—the beginning e'er conducted—established the principle that Members of Congress and Senators were not "Civil Officers" under the Constitution, and accordingly, they could just exist removed from office by a 2-thirds vote for expulsion by their respective chambers. Blount, who had been accused of instigating an coup of American Indians to further British interests in Florida, was non convicted, merely the Senate did expel him. Other impeachments have featured judges taking the bench when drunk or profiting from their position. The trial of President Johnson, however, focused on whether the President could remove cabinet officers without obtaining Congress'south blessing. Johnson's acquittal firmly set the precedent—debated from the beginning of the nation—that the President may remove appointees even if they required Senate confirmation to concur office.
For Further Reading
Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. 4 vols. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1937).
Kyvig, David E. The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960. (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2008).
Les Bridegroom, Michael. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. (New York: W.Westward. Norton & Visitor, 1999).
Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
Melton, Buckner F., Jr. The Starting time Impeachment: The Constitution's Framers and the Case of Senator William Blount. (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Printing, 1998).
Rehnquist, William H. Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Hunt and President Andrew Johnson. (New York: Harper Perennial, 1999).
"Study by the Staff of the Impeachment Enquiry on the Ramble Grounds for Presidential Impeachment," Commission Impress, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, 93rd Cong., second sess., Feb 1974.
Storing, Herbert J., ed. The Complete Anti-Federalist. 7 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).
Sullivan, John. "Chapter 27—Impeachment," in House Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents, and Procedures of the House. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2011).
Thomas, David Y. "The Police force of Impeachment in the The states," The American Political Science Review 2 (May 1908): 378–395.
Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/
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