impeachment

Impeachment (1789) is set forth in Article II, Section 4 of the US Constitution:

“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Strictly speaking, impeachment is only the first step of a two-step process:

1. Impeachment: A majority of the House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress) votes for articles of impeachment, charging the president with impeachable offences (those high crimes, etc), presumably after holding hearings gathering evidence.
2. Conviction: At least two-thirds of the Senate votes the president guilty, presumably after a Senate trial of some sort.

If convicted, the president steps down and the vice president takes his place.

The House acts like a grand jury, determining whether there is enough evidence to charge the president with an impeachable offence.

The Senate acts like a trial jury determining the president’s guilt. In practice conviction would would require about a third of the president’s own party in the Senate to vote against him, making it hard to remove him for purely political reasons.

“Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors”, in practice, means whatever Congress wants it to mean. You do not have to break a law – and merely breaking a law is not always enough. An abuse of power, though, would clearly count since it is part of the constitution’s system of checks and balances to keep any one branch of government from becoming too powerful – like keeping a president from becoming a dictator or the puppet of a foreign power.

Four presidents so far have found themselves in this mess:

• 1868: Andrew Johnson fired his Secretary of War without Senate approval, then against the law. This came on top of his refusing to carry out Reconstruction laws. He was impeached but only 64.8% voted to convict (saved by one vote).
• 1974: Richard Nixon covered up a burglary (the Watergate break-in). Resigned under threat of impeachment.
• 1998: Bill Clinton lied under oath (about an affair with Monica Lewinsky). He was impeached but only 45% voted to convict. All the Democrats and some Republicans did not believe it rose to the level of a “high crime”.
• 2019: Donald Trump asked Ukraine, a foreign power, to help him win the 2020 election. The House is currently holding an impeachment inquiry.

As of yesterday (October 9th 2019), most Americans support the impeachment inquiry against Trump, but they split almost evenly on whether he should be impeached. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 75% of Democrats favour impeachment but only 11% of Republicans and 43% of Americans overall do.

In the case of Nixon, a month after the Watergate hearings began only 19% thought he should be removed from office. When he resigned 15 months later, that was up to 57%.

In the case of Trump, even if the Senate fails to convict, the impeachment inquiry will hopefully better inform voters in the 2020 election – though some fear it will anger his base, causing more of them to vote.

– Abagond, 2019.

See also:

• Hamilton: Federalist #65
• How to remove a US president
• The US in 1974
  • Watergate
  • Nixon
• Donald Trump
  • The Mueller Report
• grand jury

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