Impeachment.
Impeachment sounds boring. What’s the really short version?
Impeachment is a process that Congress can use for removing a President before their term is up.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to let a bad President finish up their term and let voters decide not to elect him (or her) again?
Impeachment is meant to be used only when President has committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Only two Presidents have ever been impeached: #15 Andrew Johnson and #42 Bill Clinton. Their impeachments were not successful and they finished out their terms.
Richard Nixon resigned in order to avoid being impeached, which likely would have happened. This way he sort of got to go out on his own terms. Sort of. The evidence of his having committed impeachable offenses was beyond strong; it was grounded in concrete evidence and his guilt was not in question based on the facts.
So what is considered an impeachable offense?
An impeachable offense is when a high-up public official abuses the public trust, generally in a big way that involves words like “treason” and “high crimes.”
What is a high crime? Are Presidents not allowed to smoke marijuana?
The legality of marijuana at the federal level is an entirely different conversation, and one in which we might talk about state’s rights and the Civil War and such. The phrase “high crimes” in regard to impeachment means that the President has done something to injure “society itself” and has betrayed not just one person, but the country herself, and therefore needs to be removed from office prematurely.
So if you’re impeached, do you go to prison?
No. Impeachment is political, not criminal. It means you lose your powerful and important position.
Does the President go on vacation if there’s an impeachment process moving against her (or him)?
No. The President keeps on serving, or playing golf or Twitter or whatever it is a President stays busy with.
Is it kind of cool to have an impeachment on your presidential record, sort of like a battle scar?
No. It’s not a cool thing and not like that at all.
How do I Impeach someone?
If you’re a U.S. Congressperson reading this, then you’re in luck. Follow the steps below.
If you’re not a Congressperson, then you don’t. But you can vote or support the election of Representatives and Senators who will support the use of impeachment when, and only when, necessary to ensure the highest office is held by a person of integrity and unassailable commitment to their country.
What’s the process for impeaching a President? Like, the super short version.
Congress investigates whether an impeachable offense has possibly been committed, such as lying to a grand jury, obstructing justice, bribing foreign governments for your personal political gain, that sort of thing. It usually starts in the House of Representatives. But not always.
The House of Representatives votes to impeach or not impeach. A simple majority is needed. There are currently 435 representatives, so 218 would need to vote in favor of impeachment. If that happens, the President is considered impeached and the process moves to step 3.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over a trial in the Senate. A two-thirds majority (67 Senators) is needed to convict. If convicted, the President is removed from office.
If a President goes through the whole process and gets impeached and removed from office, do they go to prison after that?
Already answered that one. No. They simply get removed from office. That’s the punishment. It’s a political process, not a criminal one. That being said, once they’re out of office, they may face criminal charges for really dumb or illegal stuff they’ve done. It’s amazing when you start going down how people start not being quite so excited to protect you.
