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Impeachment

From dKosopedia

Impeachment is the bringing of charges against government officials for misconduct, corruption, or abuse of power. Impeachment can occur at the state level, but in general discussion the term usually refers to charges against federal officials.

Impeachment is occasionally misconstrued to mean the removal of an official from office, but in fact it is only the beginning of the process that may lead to an official being removed. Impeachment is analogous to an indictment in a criminal case, and a trial and conviction must follow before an official is removed from office.

Contents

Impeachment of Federal Officials

The U.S. Constitution says that: "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." The phrase "civil officers" includes Cabinet members and Federal judges, but not members of Congress.

The House of Representatives has the sole authority to impeach federal officials, which it can do by a simple majority vote on articles of impeachment. According to House procedures, the articles of impeachment are prepared by the House Judiciary Committee, which performs an investigation and decides whether to forward the articles of impeachment to the full House.

If the House approves the articles of impeachment, the Senate sits as a jury in the trial of the official, with the Vice President presiding in his capacity as President of the Senate. However, if the officer impeached is the President, the Chief Justice of the United States presides. Two-thirds of the members present must vote to convict the official, and upon conviction he is removed from office. After a conviction, the Senate may additionally vote, by simple majority, to disqualify the person from ever holding federal office again.

Contrary to popular belief, Richard Nixon was not actually impeached. He resigned from office before articles of impeachment, which were then being drafted, were finished, thus avoiding actually being impeached. Gerald Ford subsequently pardoned Nixon for all crimes he committed in the United States.

Impeached Federal Officials

† The dismissal of Blount's charges established the precedent that members of Congress are not "civil officers" for purposes of impeachment.

Bibliography

American Bar Association. FAQs and Web Resources on the Impeachment Process. Retrieved June 7, 2004.

Infoplease.com. Impeachments of Federal Officials. Retrieved June 7, 2004.

External Links

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../i/m/p/Impeachment.html"

This page was last modified 02:44, 13 July 2007 by dKosopedia user Ksn. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Anache, BartFraden, Lestatdelc, Clang and Apascover. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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