Which branch can impeach the president

Therefore, as Cole and Garvey note, [1]. Any official exercising 'significant authority' including both principal and inferior officers, would therefore qualify as a 'civil Officer' subject to impeachment. This view would permit Congress to impeach and remove any executive branch 'officer,' including many deputy political appointees and certain administrative judges. William Blount of Tennessee was the first individual ever impeached by the United States House of Representatives and, to this day, is the only member of Congress ever to have been impeached.

The House impeached Blount on July 7, , for allegedly conspiring to incite Native Americans and frontiersmen to attack the Spanish lands of Florida and Louisiana in order to give them to England. After the impeachment vote in the House, but before Blount's impeachment trial in the Senate, the Senate voted to expel Blount under provisions of Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution. Due to a lack of jurisdiction in Tennessee , where Blount fled after his conviction, the Senate could not extradite Blount for his impeachment trial.

Two years later, in , the Senate determined that Blount was not a civil officer under the definition of the Constitution and, therefore, could not be impeached. The Senate dismissed the charges against Blount for lack of jurisdiction. Since , the House has not impeached another member of Congress.

On February 24, , President Andrew Johnson became the first sitting president to be impeached. Following Congress' passage of the Tenure of Office Act, forbidding the president from removing federal officials without the approval of Congress, Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and replaced him with Ulysses S. Johnson hoped to challenge the constitutionality of the Act.

The House charged him with violating the Act and passed an impeachment resolution Johnson was acquitted by the Senate on May 16, , by a vote of , one vote short of two-thirds. Seven Republican senators broke ranks with the party to prevent Johnson's conviction. President William Jefferson Clinton , the second president to be impeached, was charged by the U.

House on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, The first article of impeachment for perjury passed the House by a vote of , while the second vote on obstruction of justice passed by House Republicans accused Clinton of lying and having others lie, hiding the affair. Two other charges, perjury in regards to an affair with Paula Jones and abuse of power, were rejected by the House. The perjury charge failed by a vote of while the obstruction of justice charge failed on a tied vote of Donald Trump was the third president to be impeached.

He was impeached first in and a second time in On December 18, , the U. House charged Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The first article passed by a vote of and the second On February 5, , the Senate acquitted him of abuse of power by a vote and of obstruction of Congress by a vote.

On January 13, , the House voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection related to the January 6 Capitol breach during electoral vote counting. On February 13, —after Trump had left office as a result of the presidential election —the Senate acquitted Trump. A two-thirds vote was required to convict. Fifty-seven senators voted to convict, and 43 voted to acquit.

Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached on March 2, , on charges of "criminally disregarding his duty as Secretary of War and basely prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain. Grant resignation papers earlier that day, and he stood trial before the Senate as a former government official, as agreed to by the Senate. He was acquitted of all charges on August 1, The House brings impeachment charges against federal officials as part of its oversight and investigatory responsibilities.

Individual Members of the House can introduce impeachment resolutions like ordinary bills, or the House could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution authorizing an inquiry. The Committee on the Judiciary ordinarily has jurisdiction over impeachments, but special committees investigated charges before the Judiciary Committee was created in The committee then chooses whether to pursue articles of impeachment against the accused official and report them to the full House.

If the articles are adopted by simple majority vote , the House appoints Members by resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf.

These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are usually members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials but has traditionally been an odd number. The House has initiated impeachment proceedings more than 60 times but less than a third have led to full impeachments.

Just eight—all federal judges—have been convicted and removed from office by the Senate. Trump in and ], a cabinet secretary William Belknap in , and a U. Senator William Blount of Tennessee in have also been impeached. In only three instances—all involving removed federal judges—has the Senate taken the additional step of barring them from ever holding future federal office. Blount, who had been accused of instigating an insurrection of American Indians to further British interests in Florida, was not convicted, but the Senate did expel him.

Other impeachments have featured judges taking the bench when drunk or profiting from their position. Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of If the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing the bill again in each chamber with at least two-thirds of each body voting in favor.

The first step in the legislative process is the introduction of a bill to Congress. Anyone can write it, but only members of Congress can introduce legislation. Some important bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal budget. During the legislative process, however, the initial bill can undergo drastic changes. After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 House committees, with subcommittees.

The committees are not set in stone, but change in number and form with each new Congress as required for the efficient consideration of legislation. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialized policy areas.

A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full committee, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear before the committee and provide testimony, and can compel people to appear using subpoena power if necessary.

If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the majority party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away.

Others may wait for months or never be scheduled at all. When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill — and by extension its passage — by refusing to stand down.

Job security is one important contributor to maintaining judicial independence — so that judges are deciding cases based on their understanding of what the law requires, and not worrying that they could be removed from office if powerful political actors disagree with their rulings. Despite this historical understanding, there have continued to be attempts to use the impeachment power for partisan reasons.

Four sitting appeals court judges joined together in a remarkable statement to condemn the political attacks on Judge Harold Baer Jr. Several of those introductions were part of a failed effort in Iowa to remove four Iowa Supreme Court Justices for their decision in a high-profile case about marriage rights for same-sex couples. Iowa Governor-elect Terry Brandstad R said at the time that disagreement over a ruling did not constitute grounds for impeachment.

This year, twelve Republican legislators in Pennsylvania have introduced resolutions to impeach four sitting Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices for their ruling in a partisan gerrymandering case that may cost the Republican Party congressional seats in the upcoming election.

Former U. Court of Appeals Judge Timothy K. Lewis, appointed by President George H. Image: Flickr. Explore Our Work. How does the impeachment process work?