Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. The decision to accuse the official is brought by a vote of a legislative body. The impeached person may continue to perform the duties of office until he or she has been tried and found guilty of the charges. The term impeachment may also refer to the entire process by which a government official is removed from office. In this article, the term is used in the more restricted sense.
In the United States
Procedure.
The House of Representatives has the sole power to bring charges of impeachment against the president, vice president, or other civilian officials of the United States government except members of Congress. A majority vote of the House is required for impeachment. The Senate then sits as a court to hear the charges against the impeached official. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required for conviction. The vice president generally presides over the Senate. However, when the Senate hears charges against the president, the chief justice of the United States presides. The Constitution makes this provision because the vice president would succeed to the presidency if the president were found guilty.
The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Congress has refused to limit the grounds for impeachment to criminal acts. However, it has refused to discharge (dismiss) officeholders merely because they have lost the confidence of Congress or of the people. Instead, it considers impeachable offenses to include criminal actions, serious abuse of power, and grave misconduct in office. Some scholars believe Congress requires more serious grounds to remove a president than to dismiss a judge. The president is elected for a limited term, but judges are appointed for as long as they maintain “good behavior.”
Officials found guilty by the Senate may be punished by more than being removed from office. The Senate may also prohibit them from ever again holding office in the U.S. government. Conviction of impeachment charges does not involve imprisonment or a fine. However, the official may also be tried in a regular court of law where other penalties may be imposed
Federal judges can be tried in court for a crime while still in office. But legal scholars do not know if a president or vice president can be. In 1974, in the case of United States v. Richard M. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not withhold evidence demanded by a federal court. This decision meant that federal courts have jurisdiction (legal power) over the president. But scholars remain undecided as to whether a president or vice president can be tried for a crime while in office.
In general, the state governments follow the same rules for impeachment as the federal government does. The lower house has the sole power of impeachment, and the upper house tries the individuals. Few states have used their impeachment power. In one such case in January 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to impeach Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008 and charged with accepting bribes. The bribes were given to Blagojevich in an attempt to “buy” the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president. On Jan. 29, 2009, the Illinois Senate formally removed Blagojevich from office. Lieutenant Governor Patrick J. Quinn was sworn in as the new governor.
History.
The United States House of Representatives uses its impeachment powers infrequently. The House has initiated impeachment against 63 people. The House has impeached only 3 presidents, Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald J. Trump. Johnson and Clinton were acquitted (found not guilty) by the Senate. Trump was tried twice by the Senate, in 2020 and 2021, but was acquitted each time. Another president, Richard M. Nixon, resigned before the House voted on articles of impeachment recommended against him by the House Judiciary Committee. A few officials have resigned to avoid impeachment. However, the House can impeach a former officeholder even after he or she has resigned.
The Senate has held formal impeachment hearings for 20 officials. Of those 20 officials, 8 were convicted. Fourteen of the 20 people tried by the Senate were judges, and all of the 8 convictions involved judges. The formal impeachment hearings were the following:
(1) Senator William Blount of Tennessee was impeached in 1797. He was charged with conspiring to help British and Indian forces attack the Spanish territories of Florida and Louisiana. However, the Senate ruled that it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the charges. This ruling established that Congress would discipline its own members rather than use impeachment. Either house of Congress can expel one of its members by a two-thirds vote. The Senate had expelled Blount the day after his impeachment. See Blount, William .
(2) John Pickering of New Hampshire, judge of the United States District Court, was impeached in 1803. He was charged with drunkenness and profanity on the bench, and for unlawful decisions. It was generally agreed that the cause of his misconduct was insanity. He was found guilty and removed from office.
(3) Samuel Chase, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was impeached in 1804. He was charged with criticizing Thomas Jefferson, who was president at the time. Some Jefferson supporters felt that impeachment was a proper means of keeping the courts in harmony with Congress and the executive branch of government. Chase was acquitted in 1805. His acquittal helped to establish the importance of an independent judiciary. See Chase, Samuel .
(4) James Peck of Missouri, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1830. A Missouri lawyer named Luke Lawless had published a newspaper article criticizing one of Peck’s decisions. Peck summoned Lawless to court, committed him to prison for 24 hours, and suspended him from law practice for 18 months.
Peck was acquitted in January 1831, but the case aroused concern for the freedom of the press. Congress promptly passed a statute limiting the power of judges to punish for contempt of court except when it consists of misbehavior in the presence of the court, or so near it as to obstruct the administration of justice.
(5) West H. Humphreys of Tennessee, a judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1862. He was charged with supporting the secession movement and unlawfully acting as judge of the Confederate District Court. He was found guilty and removed from office.
(6) Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, was impeached in 1868. He was charged with violation of the Tenure of Office Act, corrupt use of the veto power, interference at elections, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. The votes in the Senate were one short of the two-thirds needed to convict, so he was acquitted. In the background of the impeachment lay a bitter difference of opinion concerning the proper treatment of the defeated Confederate states. Johnson favored a much milder policy toward the South than the one proposed by a strong group in Congress. See Johnson, Andrew .
(7) Mark H. Delahay of Kansas, a judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached by the House in 1873. He was charged with drunkenness on the bench. He resigned from office before the Senate could begin his trial.
(8) William W. Belknap, U.S. secretary of war, was impeached in 1876 for accepting bribes. Belknap resigned. The Senate later acquitted him.
(9) Charles Swayne of Florida, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1904 for misconduct in office. He was acquitted.
(10) Robert W. Archbald, associate judge of the United States Commerce Court, was impeached in 1912. He was charged with entering into corrupt alliances with coal-mine owners and railroad officials while in office. Archbald was found guilty in 1913 and was discharged.
(11) George W. English of Illinois, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached for misdemeanors in 1926. He resigned before the trial in the Senate.
(12) Harold Louderback of California, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1933 on charges of corruption. He was acquitted the same year.
(13) Halsted L. Ritter of Florida, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1936. He was charged with corrupt legal practices. He was convicted by the Senate and removed from office in 1936.
(14) Harry E. Claiborne of Nevada, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached for filing false income tax returns. He was found guilty and removed from office in 1986.
(15) Alcee L. Hastings of Florida, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in 1988. In 1989, the Senate convicted him of perjury and of trying to obtain a bribe, and he was removed from office. In 1992, a federal court ruled that Hastings may have been improperly tried by the Senate. In 1993, a higher federal court upheld Hastings’s conviction.
(16) Walter L. Nixon, Jr., of Mississippi, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in May 1989. Nixon had been convicted of perjury by a regular court of law and was serving a five-year sentence for the crime at the time of his impeachment. In 1989, the Senate convicted Nixon and removed him from office.
(17) Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, was impeached in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on charges of lying to a grand jury that was investigating an extramarital affair he had while in office. Other charges included hindering the investigation by lying to his aides and by encouraging others to lie and conceal evidence on his behalf. The Senate acquitted Clinton in 1999. See Clinton, Bill .
(18) Samuel B. Kent of Texas, a judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached by the House in 2009. The impeachment happened after he had been found guilty of obstruction of justice in a criminal case. He resigned from office, and the Senate dismissed his case.
(19) G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, judge of the U.S. District Court, was impeached in March 2010. He was charged with accepting bribes from lawyers, filing for bankruptcy under a false name, and lying to Congress during his confirmation hearings. The Senate convicted him and removed him from office in December 2010.
(20) Donald J. Trump, 45th president of the United States, was impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House impeached Trump for abuse of power for his allegedly urging a foreign power to investigate a domestic political rival. The obstruction of Congress charge was for the president’s blocking administration witnesses from speaking to investigators and refusing to produce documents subpoenaed (officially commanded) by congressional investigators. The Senate acquitted Trump in 2020.
In January 2021, Trump was impeached again, for “incitement of insurrection”—that is, stirring up a revolt. House members voted to impeach Trump for encouraging a rebellion against the government after violent pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. In February, the Senate voted, 57 to 43, to convict Trump. But the vote fell 10 votes short of the 67 required for a conviction. See Trump, Donald J.
In other countries
Canada and Australia
provide that judges are to be removed by the governor-general on an address, or resolution of both houses of the federal legislature. The Canadian constitution gives parliament the right to impeach federally appointed judges. Judges who are found guilty are removed from office.
Other nations
use impeachment in various forms. The tendency in Europe and South America is to confine impeachment to officers with the rank of minister, but to extend it to all offenses against the constitution or laws. In most nations, impeachment proceedings begin in the lower house of the legislature, and the upper house handles the trial and sentence.
