By Kate Murphy
How the Impeachment of an American President Actually Works: A Step by Step Guide
Kate Murphy
PRE IMPEACHMENT NOTE: Impeachment Does Not Equal Removal
Before the impeachment process can begin, a common misconception has to be set straight. When the president is impeached, it doesn't mean that they aren’t president anymore. Impeachment is simply the presidential equivalent of indictment (being charged with a crime). To actually stop someone from being president, they have to be removed from office through a senate trial. Now, continue reading to learn how to impeach a president in six easy steps!
STEP 0.25: President Commits an Impeachable Offense
According to the United States Constitution, before a president can actually get impeached, or even investigated, they have to first commit “treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanours”. The President could also get accused when they haven’t done anything, but that wouldn’t be very productive. While treason and bribery are legally well defined, “high-crimes and misdemeanours” doesn’t really mean anything. It seems as though the constitution was purposely vague in its impeachment criteria so that the House (Congress) would be able to remove unfit leaders in situations not anticipated by the founding fathers. Very smart, guys! Historically, this vague criteria has been interpreted as any abuse of power. So, in short, wait for the president to forget that they govern a democracy (or commit treason or bribery, any of the three really work).
STEP 0.5: House Resolution
The House may be accused of not impeaching correctly if they don’t follow this step, despite it being optional. The House has to pass a resolution. This basically just says “You can officially investigate now!” to the House Committees. The resolution may also lay out the procedure that the investigations will follow, but this is also an optional inclusion.
STEP 1: House Investigations
This step can only take place in the House, as, once again according to the constitution: “The House… shall have the sole power of impeachment.” This is where evidence of the President’s abuse of power can actually be gathered. Committees within the House then hold investigations to collect evidence of impeachable offences. These investigations may very well include public hearings (this is what just happened in the United States), or closed-door investigations.
STEP 1.5: House Judiciary Committee Receives Evidence
The evidence collected in the aforementioned investigations is then passed on to, or was initially gathered by, the House Judiciary Committee. This is an internal committee within the House who are appointed by the Speaker of the House (currently Nancy Pelosi). This committee then decides if the evidence does, in fact, point to treason, bribery, high-crimes or misdemeanours. If they decide that it does point to any of those offences, they draft Articles of Impeachment. These are the official product of their findings from the investigations.
STEP 2: House Judiciary Committee Presents Articles of Impeachment
The Judicial Committee can now present the Articles of Impeachment to the rest of the House. The House then votes on these articles, saying either: yes, they do show that the president committed impeachable offences, or no, there isn’t sufficient evidence that the president acted out of line. Only one article of impeachment needs a majority vote for the president to be impeached. If one does get the vote, congrats! Impeachment has been successful! Now, onto removal.
STEP 2.5: Senate Resolution
Before the Senate can actually hold a trial, they must pass a resolution. Unlike the House’s resolution, this one is not optional. As said before, the procedures for impeaching a president are extremely vague in the constitution, so the Senate has to lay out how the trial will actually happen. They have a lot of power in customizing the procedures; they can do things such as limit the time the president has to gather their defence, or even decide if witnesses are allowed to be called.
STEP 3: Senate Trial
The Senate then acts on the Articles of Impeachment by holding a trial. This trial’s structure is very similar to that of a criminal trial: the Chief Justice (head of the Supreme Court) acts as the judge, the Senate is the jury, members of the House are the prosecutors (arguing for impeachment) and the President can hire their own defence attorneys.
STEP 4: Senate Vote
To end the trial, the Senate takes a vote to remove the President from office. To succeed, there needs to be a supermajority (two-thirds of the Senate has to vote for removal).
STEP 5: President is Removed from Office
If the Senate votes to remove them, congrats! The President has been removed! Not only that, but they are barred from holding any office in the future. They are also now vulnerable to indictment for crimes they may have committed.
STEP 6. Presidential Succession
Once the President is removed from office, someone has to take over their job. Since the 1947 Presidential Succession Act, the Vice President is next in line for the position; they are the only one who can actually become president, all others would only become an acting president. If the Vice President is also impeached and removed, or otherwise unable to govern, the Speaker of the House becomes acting president. After them is the President Pro Tempore. They are a senator appointed by the Senate to act in the Vice President’s absence as the Vice President is technically the head of the Senate. Inline after the President Pro Tempore are the heads of the Federal Executive Departments, starting with the Secretary of State and then going in order of the date of the creation of each department.
POST IMPEACHMENT NOTE:
Impeachment is a very complicated process with equally vague constitutional instructions. There are many ways that the process can go, some that haven't happened yet. This guide lays out the process in the simplest terms and does not include all the crazy things that can (and have) happened in impeachment proceedings. To conclude, please impeach responsibly and appropriately… looking at you, United States Republican Senate majority.
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