What Is Impeachment?

HISTORY AND PROCEDURE OF PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT

Impeachment is guaranteed as an essential security for the good behavior of the executive branch. It is intended to address conduct amounting to gross breach of trust or serious abuse of power, and is not limited to indictable offenses.

The framers of the constitution provided the remedy of impeachment because they were unwilling to rely solely on periodic elections as the method of removing the unworthy from office. Usually, through elections and the balance of power provided by the three branches of government, impeachment is not necessary. Impeachment was intended to be a direct and immediate remedy for political offenses that relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.

During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison asserted that the President should be subject to impeachment if executive branch officials are allowed to perpetrate with impunity high crimes and misdemeanors against the US or neglects to superintend their conduct. More dramatically, Ben Franklin argued that impeachment was necessary to prevent the drastic remedy of assassination where a President “rendered himself obnoxious.”

Impeachment is an action taken by the House of Representatives, stating charges against a public official. It is a matter of highest privilege and supercedes all other business. Impeachment proceedings can be initiated several ways:

Charges may be made orally on the floor by a Member of the House.
A member of the House may submit a written statement of charges.
One or more members may offer a resolution.
The House can receive charges from a state legislature, territory or grand jury.
A Committee of the House can submit a report of facts or charges.

Once a charge has been initiated, the House calls for the appointment of a select committee or a standing committee (usually Judiciary) to investigate the charges. The committee meetings may be open or closed. The committee recommends either dismissal of charges or impeachment. If the latter, Articles of Impeachment are introduced which set forth the grounds adopted by the committee, and a report is made to the House. That report is the basis for a vote on a formal resolution to impeach. If the resolution is passed and signed by the Speaker of the House, the House selects one or more members, called managers, to conduct and prosecute the impeachment in the Senate. After the managers are either voted by the House or appointed by the Speaker, the Senate is informed.

The trial is conducted by the Senate, which must convict with a 2/3 majority. If the person being tried is the President, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. This power was placed in the Senate rather than the Supreme Court out of fear that a President might improperly influence the Supreme Court through his appointment power. The House managers, as prosecution for the proceedings, orally present the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. The entire House is privileged to attend the proceedings. Testimony can be before the entire Senate or a committee of 12 Senators. If the full Senate, they are all judge and jury, and can ask questions in writing through the presiding officer. Deliberations on the final vote are closed. The result must be guilty or acquitted (including adjournment).

HISTORY

51 impeachment proceedings initiated in the House since 1789
12 Articles of Impeachment were approved
2 were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
6 were acquitted
4 were convicted (federal judges) and removed from office

Information taken from The Law of Presidential Impeachment, by the Committee on Federal Legislation of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, at www.abcny.org/presimpt.htm.