IMPEACHMENT: What You Need To Know In The Age Of Trump


This week has been one giant march toward what seems inevitable to many of us. The impeachment of President Donald J. Trump appears to be moving ever closer to reality.

With that in mind, this seems like a good time to take a close look at the laws around impeachment, and how the very difficult process works.

The first step is to define the term “impeachment” as it is used in our Constitution. In the U.S. government, the word means to charge an elected official with some legal wrongdoing. It only means that the official is accused of wrongdoing.

Impeachment is intended, according out Constitution, only to remove an official from office. It is not a criminal trial. The Constitution defines it this way:

“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.”

In our Constitution, Article 1, Section 2 gives the House of Representatives the power to bring charges of wrongdoing against the President. The House is the one body that can officially “impeach” the President or another elected official.The process is usually initiated by the Judiciary Committee of the House, who hears evidence from a range of witnesses. If they feel that the actions of the President (or other official) reach the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors”,  they send their evidence to the House as a whole. The evidence is presented to the House. If a simple majority of Representatives votes in support of the charges, the official is impeached. The Articles of Impeachment are then sent on.

The next step is covered in Article 1, Section 3. This is the actual trial of the impeached official. This trial can take place only in the Senate.  The House has said that the official has taken action that rises to the level of impeachment. Now the Senate will hear the case, with input from House members referred to as “managers.”

The Senators themselves serve in the role of the jury. They are not allowed to speak during the impeachment hearing, but can submit written questions to the official serving in the role of judge. In the case of a Presidential impeachment, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court acts as the presiding judge.

The defendant (the President or other elected official) can either appear in person, or can select any lawyers and representatives to appear. Evidence is taken, and witnesses are interviewed.

The evidence is presented to the Senate, which then holds a debate on whether or not to convict. The question being debated is whether or not the evidence shows that the official has committed treason, engaged in bribery, or committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  A “conviction” means that the official is removed from office.

There has historically been a great deal of debate about what constitutes a “high crime or misdemeanor.”

In order for the Senate to convict, two thirds of Senators must agree, rather than the simple majority required in the House.

If the official is convicted, they are removed from office immediately.

This gives us a lot to think about and to understand in terms of Donald Trump and his crumbling Presidency.

In order to remove him from office, the House of Representatives (controlled by the GOP) would need to vote in favor or impeachment. They would then need to send the order of impeachment to the Senate.

In the Senate (also controlled by Trump’s GOP), evidence would need to be presented to Chief Justice John Roberts. The Senate would then hold a debate, and it would take two thirds of them to convict.

Call me crazy, but I believe that this constitutes a serious Constitutional crisis.

NEXT: A history of impeachment in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgu__ewXVDU

Featured image via YouTube screengrab.

 

 

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"