Impeachment. I INTRODUCTION Impeachment, process by which a legislative body can remove public officials from office. Impeachment comprises both the act of formulating an accusation or indictment against an official and the subsequent trial. In the United States, impeached officials who are convicted are removed from office, and may be subject to further criminal prosecution. Most other nations do not have impeachment processes. Two United States presidents have been impeached. The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and President Bill Clinton in 1998. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 as impeachment proceedings were under way. The United States Senate has held full impeachment trials 14 other times in American history. Twelve federal judges have been tried, and seven were convicted. The Senate acquitted four judges, and one resigned before the trial was complete. The Senate also tried and acquitted William W. Belknap, secretary of war during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. II CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS Article I, Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the United States grant the power of impeachment to Congress. The Constitution gives the U.S. House of Representatives "the sole power of impeachment," which is generally interpreted to mean the House is responsible for initiating impeachment proceedings. The U.S. Senate is granted "the sole power to try all impeachments," which means the Senate is responsible for conducting trials of officials accused of wrongdoing. The Constitution provides few details about the format for Senate impeachment trials. In cases of presidential impeachment, the Constitution stipulates that the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States preside over the trial. In cases involving officials other than the president, the vice president presides. In all impeachment trials, a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to convict. Officials who are convicted by the Senate are disqualified from holding other federal offices. Although the Constitution allows any federal official to be impeached, there is a long-standing precedent against impeaching members of the legislative branch. Impeachable offenses are described in Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, which defines executive powers. It states "the President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and on conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Exactly what the authors of the Constitution meant by "high crimes and misdemeanors" has never been entirely clear. Treason and bribery are easy enough to understand, but deciding what other offenses constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors" has been more difficult, especially in the three presidential impeachment crises in the United States' history. For example, lawyers at the time of the Nixon proceedings asked: "Is that phrase limited to acts which would be indictable as criminal offenses, or was it intended to reach abuses of office or breaches of trust not constituting criminal acts?" Some of the Constitution's authors wanted to include "maladministration" among the impeachable offenses, but others feared the power of impeachment would be used too frequently if Congress were guided by such a general term. The authors of the Constitution recognized that impeachment could be motivated by political as well as legal concerns. Eager to maintain the stability of the American government, they required a two-thirds Senate vote to remove officials from office. Impeachment of federal officials has been a rare occurrence in American history. Except for judges, who cannot be voted out of office, politicians and the public have preferred to remove inept or unfit leaders through elections. Frequent impeachments of elected officials would transform America's constitutional system into something more akin to a parliamentary one, where a vote of no confidence brings down an elected chief executive. III PROCESS Since the Constitution does not describe the exact process for impeachment, these procedures have evolved from experience. Today, the impeachment process begins if a majority of members of the House of Representatives vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to conduct an inquiry. After the committee conducts hearings and examines evidence of alleged wrongdoing, the committee can vote to approve articles (written charges) of impeachment. If a majority of the House of Representatives votes to approve at least one article of impeachment, the case is referred to the Senate. The presiding officer for the Senate trial--either the vice president or the chief justice--administers an oath to the senators requiring them to act impartially as required of jurors and judges in all court proceedings. The Senate convenes to hear the appointed representatives from the House make the case for impeachment. In the two presidential impeachment cases that have gone to a trial--those involving presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton--the House of Representatives appointed representatives from the Judiciary Committee to present the case for impeachment to the Senate. In turn, the accused official and his or her representatives are allowed time to refute the charges in oral arguments to the assembled senators. The Senate can call witnesses who may support or refute the charges. The proceedings can be terminated at any time without a determination of guilt or innocence if a majority of senators vote to end the trial. After all of the evidence is heard and individual senators have made arguments for or against removing the official, a vote is held on each of the articles of impeachment. If two-thirds of the Senate votes to convict the official on any article of impeachment, he or she is removed from office. The Constitution provides only general guidelines for impeachment proceedings. Congress is free to adjust the format and length of the hearings and trial. The Senate may also vote to appoint a committee to hear evidence during the impeachment trial of any federal official. After receiving all testimony, the committee prepares a report that includes transcripts taken during the proceedings. After reviewing the evidence gathered by the committee, the full Senate votes on the article or articles of impeachment. Today, the Senate usually refers impeachment proceedings involving federal judges to committees. The standards for impeaching and convicting federal judges have traditionally been lower than in impeachment cases involving presidents. Unlike elected officials, judges are appointed for life and the only way to remove them is through an impeachment proceeding. The electorate has no democratic way of removing a judge who is incompetent or unfit to serve. IV HISTORY Impeachment originated in the English Parliament during the 14th century. It was used to punish royal ministers accused of misconduct, and to hold the king's ministers accountable to Parliament. The House of Lords initially exercised the exclusive right of impeachment. In 1376 impeachment became the responsibility of the House of Commons, with the House of Lords maintaining the right to try the accused officeholder. The last British official to be removed as a result of impeachment proceedings was convicted in 1806. The American colonies inherited English traditions of impeachment, but modified them to discourage their use as a means of political warfare. A The Johnson Trial In February 1868 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson and appointed a committee to prepare articles of impeachment. The House passed 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson in March 1868. Ten of the articles concerned the president's alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act, an 1867 statute that required the president to seek congressional approval before dismissing officials confirmed by the Senate. The other charge against Johnson was a general accusation that he had attempted to undermine Congress. An outrageous charge that Johnson had been involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his predecessor, was withdrawn at the last minute. The Senate that tried Johnson was dominated by the so-called Radical Republicans, who were outraged by Johnson's readiness to bring Confederate states back into the Union following the American Civil War (1861-1865) without assuring equal rights for former slaves. Thirty-five senators voted to convict Johnson and 19 voted to acquit, one vote short of the two-thirds majority required to remove the president. Seven moderate Republicans who feared the removal of a president would permanently damage the presidency and weaken the traditional separation of powers cast ballots for acquittal. Johnson's trial demonstrated that impeachment is often as much a matter of politics as of law, at least in the case of a president. B The Nixon Case Following revelations of President Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal, the House of Representatives prepared three articles of impeachment against him that cited obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and defiance of congressional subpoenas. The House Judiciary Committee approved the articles of impeachment in July 1974, and Nixon resigned the presidency the following month, avoiding impeachment proceedings. The possibility of further criminal prosecution of Nixon ended when his successor, President Gerald Ford, pardoned him in September 1974. C The Clinton Trial In January 1998 independent counsel Kenneth Starr began investigating allegations that President Bill Clinton had lied under oath to conceal a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In September 1998 Starr released a voluminous report and referred 11 possible grounds for the president's impeachment to the House of Representatives. Starr charged Clinton with obstruction of justice, lying under oath (perjury), witness tampering, and abuse of power. The House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against Clinton in December 1998, perjury and obstruction of justice, by votes of 228 to 206 and 221 to 212. Following a monthlong trial, the Senate rejected both articles of impeachment in February 1999. Both Senate votes fell considerably short of the two-thirds majority required to convict (67 votes). The first article of impeachment, alleging perjury, was defeated by a vote of 45 for impeachment and 55 against. The second article, charging Clinton with obstruction of justice, failed in a 50-50 tie vote. The impeachment proceedings against Clinton were highly politicized, with almost all Democrats supporting the president and almost all Republicans opposing him. This imbalance made it difficult to conclude that Clinton's impeachment was an impartial process. The president's defenders argued that lying about sex is a private matter and not an abuse of governmental authority. However, Clinton's detractors believed that he had violated the law and that by misleading the American public, he had undermined the integrity of his office. Contributed By: Robert Dallek Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
