The Lady liberty
I wonder what she thought
As she stood there, strong and tall.
She couldn't turn away,
She was forced to watch it all.
Did she long to offer comfort
As her country bled?
With her arm forever frozen
High above her head.
She could not shield her eyes
She could not hide her face
She just stared across the water
Keeping Freedom's place.
The smell of smoke and terror
Somehow reduced her size
So small within the harbor
But still we recognized...
How dignified and beautiful
On a day so many died
I wonder what she thought,
And I know she must have cried.
 |
The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999, Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. The House managers are seated beside the quarter-circular tables on the left and the president's personal counsel on the right, much in the fashion of President Andrew Johnson's trial. |
Impeachment in the United States
"House Manager" redirects here. For Theater operations, see House management.
Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature that allows for formal charges against a civil officer of government for crimes committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges, is separate from the act of impeachment itself.
Impeachment is analogous to indictment in regular court proceedings, while trial by the other house is analogous to thetrial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and theupper house will conduct the trial.
At the federal level, Article II of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states 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 House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate. In Nixon v. United States (1993), the Supreme Court determined that the federal judiciary cannot review such proceedings.
Impeachment can also occur at the state level; state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors, according to their respective state constitutions.
At the Philadelphia Convention, Benjamin Franklin noted that, historically, the removal of “obnoxious” chief executives had been accomplished by assassination. Franklin suggested that a proceduralized mechanism for removal — impeachment — would be preferable.[1]
Contents
[hide]The House of Representatives[edit]
Impeachment proceedings may be commenced by a member of the House of Representatives on their own initiative, either by presenting a listing of the charges under oath, or by asking for referral to the appropriate committee. The impeachment process may be triggered by non-members. For example, when the Judicial Conference of the United States suggests a federal judge be impeached, a charge of what actions constitute grounds for impeachment may come from a special prosecutor, the President, a state or territorial legislature, grand jury, or by petition.
The type of impeachment resolution determines to which committee it will be referred. A resolution impeaching a particular individual is typically referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. A resolution to authorize an investigation regarding impeachable conduct is referred to the House Committee on Rules, and then referred to the Judiciary Committee. The House Committee on the Judiciary, by majority vote, will determine whether grounds for impeachment exist. If the Committee finds grounds for impeachment they will set forth specific allegations of misconduct in one or more articles of impeachment. The Impeachment Resolution, or Article(s) of Impeachment, are then reported to the full House with the committee's recommendations.
The House debates the resolution and may at the conclusion consider the resolution as a whole or vote on each article of impeachment individually. A simple majority of those present and voting is required for each article or the resolution as a whole to pass. If the House votes to impeach, managers (typically referred to as "House managers", with a "lead House manager") are selected to present the case to the Senate. Recently, managers have been selected by resolution, while historically the House would occasionally elect the managers or pass a resolution allowing the appointment of managers at the discretion of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. These managers are roughly the equivalent of the prosecution/district attorney in a standard criminal trial.
Also, the House will adopt a resolution in order to notify the Senate of its action. After receiving the notice, the Senate will adopt an order notifying the House that it is ready to receive the managers. The House managers then appear before the bar of the Senate and exhibit the articles of impeachment. After the reading of the charges, the managers return and make a verbal report to the House.
Senate[edit]
The proceedings unfold in the form of a trial, with each side having the right to call witnesses and perform cross-examinations. The House members, who are given the collective title of managers during the course of the trial, present the prosecution case and the impeached official has the right to mount a defense with his own attorneys as well. Senators must also take an oath or affirmation that they will perform their duties honestly and with due diligence (as opposed to the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, who vote upon their honor). After hearing the charges, the Senate usually deliberates in private. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority.
The Senate enters judgment on its decision, whether that be to convict or acquit, and a copy of the judgment is filed with the Secretary of State.[2] Upon conviction, the official is automatically removed from office and may also be barred from holding future office. The removed official is also liable to criminal prosecution. The President may not grant a pardon in the impeachment case, but may in any resulting criminal case.
Beginning in the 1980s, the Senate began using "Impeachment Trial Committees" pursuant to Senate Rule XI.[3] These committees presided over the evidentiary phase of the trials, hearing the evidence and supervising the examination and cross-examination of witnesses. The committees would then compile the evidentiary record and present it to the Senate; all senators would then have the opportunity to review the evidence before the chamber voted to convict or acquit. The purpose of the committees was to streamline impeachment trials, which otherwise would have taken up a great deal of the chamber's time. Defendants challenged the use of these committees, claiming them to be a violation of their fair trial rights as well as the Senate's constitutional mandate, as a body, to have "sole power to try all impeachments." Several impeached judges sought court intervention in their impeachment proceedings on these grounds, but the courts refused to become involved due to the Constitution's granting of impeachment and removal power solely to the legislative branch, making it a political question.
History[edit]
In writing Article II, Section Four, George Mason had favored impeachment for "maladministration" (incompetence), but James Madison, who favored impeachment only for criminal behavior, carried the issue.[4] Hence, cases of impeachment may be undertaken only for "treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors." However, some scholars, such as Kevin Gutzman, have disputed this view and argue that the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" was intended to have a much more expansive meaning.
The Congress traditionally regards impeachment as a power to use only in extreme cases; the House of Representatives has actually initiated impeachment proceedings only 62 times since 1789. Two cases did not come to trial because the individuals had left office.
Actual impeachments of 19 federal officers have taken place. Of these, 15 were federal judges: thirteen district court judges, one court of appeals judge (who also sat on the Commerce Court), and one Supreme Court Associate Justice. Of the other four, two were Presidents, one was a Cabinet secretary, and one was a U.S. Senator. Of the 19 impeached officials, eight were convicted. One, former judge Alcee Hastings, was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives after being removed from office.
The 1797 impeachment of Senator William Blount of Tennessee stalled on the grounds that the Senate lacked jurisdiction over him. Because, in a separate action unrelated to the impeachment procedure, the Senate had already expelled Blount, the lack of jurisdiction may have been either because Blount was no longer a Senator, or because Senators are not civil officers of the federal government and therefore not subject to impeachment. No other member of Congress has ever been impeached, although the Constitution does give authority to either house to expel its own members (not members of the other chamber), which each has done on occasion (see List of United States senators expelled or censured and List of United States Representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded). Expulsion removes the individual from functioning as a representative or senator because of their misbehavior, but unlike impeachment, expulsion cannot result in barring an individual from holding future office.
Impeachment of a U.S. President[edit]
Only two U.S. Presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives. Both were acquitted at the trials held by the Senate: Andrew Johnson in 1868 (trial) and Bill Clinton in 1998/1999 (trial). The House Judiciary Committee voted on Articles of Impeachment for President Richard Nixon in 1974, but he resigned before the full House of Representatives could vote on any articles. Since the entire House did not vote, Nixon was never impeached.
When an Impeachment process involves a U.S. President, the Chief Justice of the United States is required to preside during the Senate trial.[5] In all other trials, the Vice President would preside in his capacity as President of the Senate. Some academics have suggested that due to an omission in the Constitution, the Vice President also would preside over his or her own impeachment trial,[6] but the logic of this argument has been questioned.[7]
Federal officials impeached[edit]
| # | Date of Impeachment | Accused | Office | Accusation(s) | Result[Note 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 7, 1797[8] |  William Blount | United States Senator(Tennessee) | Conspiring to assist Britain in capturing Spanish territory | Senate refused to accept impeachment of a Senator by the House of Representatives, instead expelling him from the Senate on their own authority[9][Note 2] |
| 2 | March 2, 1803[8][10] | Judge (District of New Hampshire) | Drunkenness and unlawful rulings | Removed on March 12, 1804[9][10] | |
| 3 | March 12, 1804[8][10] |  Samuel Chase | Associate Justice (Supreme Court of the United States) | Political bias and arbitrary rulings, promoting a partisan political agenda on the bench [11] | Acquitted on March 1, 1805[9][10] |
| 4 | April 24, 1830[8][10] |  James H. Peck | Judge (District of Missouri) | Abuse of power[12] | Acquitted on January 31, 1831[9][10] |
| 5 | May 6, 1862[8][10] |  West Hughes Humphreys | Judge (Eastern,Middle, and WesternDistricts ofTennessee) | Supporting the Confederacy | Removed and disqualified on June 26, 1862[8][9][10] |
| 6 | February 24, 1868[8] |  Andrew Johnson | President of the United States | Violating the Tenure of Office Act | Acquitted on May 26, 1868[9] |
| 7 | February 28, 1873[10][13] |  Mark W. Delahay | Judge (District of Kansas) | Drunkenness | Resigned on December 12, 1873[10][13] |
| 8 | March 2, 1876[8] |  William W. Belknap | United States Secretary of War | Graft/corruption | Acquitted after his resignation on August 1, 1876.[9] |
| 9 | December 13, 1904[8][10] | Judge (Northern District of Florida) | Failure to live in his district, abuse of power[14] | Acquitted on February 27, 1905[9][10] | |
| 10 | July 11, 1912[8][10] | Associate Justice (United States Commerce Court) Judge (Third Circuit Court of Appeals) | Improper acceptance of gifts from litigants and attorneys | Removed and disqualified on January 13, 1913[8][9][10] | |
| 11 | April 1, 1926[8][10] | Judge (Eastern District of Illinois) | Abuse of power | Resigned on November 4, 1926,[8][9] proceedings dismissed on December 13, 1926[8][10] | |
| 12 | February 24, 1933[8][10] | Judge (Northern District of California) | Corruption | Acquitted on May 24, 1933[9][10] | |
| 13 | March 2, 1936[8][10] | Judge (Southern District of Florida) | Champerty/corruption, tax evasion, practicing law while a judge | Removed on April 17, 1936[9][10] | |
| 14 | July 22, 1986[8][10] | Judge (District of Nevada) | Tax evasion | Removed on October 9, 1986[9][10] | |
| 15 | August 3, 1988[8][10] |  Alcee Hastings | Judge (Southern District of Florida) | Accepting a bribe, and committing perjury during the resulting investigation | Removed on October 20, 1989[9][10] |
| 16 | May 10, 1989[8][10] |  Walter Nixon | Chief Judge (Southern District of Mississippi) | Perjury | Removed on November 3, 1989[9][10][Note 3] |
| 17 | December 19, 1998[8] |  Bill Clinton | President of the United States | Perjury and obstruction of justice, relating to the Lewinsky scandal | Acquitted on February 12, 1999[9] |
| 18 | June 19, 2009[10][15] |  Samuel B. Kent | Judge (Southern District of Texas) | Sexual assault, and obstruction of justice during the resulting investigation | Resigned on June 30, 2009,[10][16] proceedings dismissed on July 22, 2009[9][10][17] |
| 19 | March 11, 2010[10][18] |  Thomas Porteous | Judge (Eastern District of Louisiana) | Making false financial disclosures | Removed and disqualified on December 8, 2010[9][10][19] |
Demands for impeachment[edit]
While actually impeaching a federal public official is a rare event, demands for impeachment, especially of presidents, are extremely common,[20][21] going back to the administration of George Washington in the mid-1790s. In fact, most of the 63 resolutions mentioned above were in response to presidential actions.
While almost all of them were for the most part frivolous and were buried as soon as they were introduced, several did have their intended effect. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon[22] and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas both resigned in response to the threat of impeachment hearings, and, most famously, President Richard Nixon resigned from office after the House Judiciary Committee had already reported articles of impeachment to the floor.
Impeachment in the states[edit]
State legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors. The court for the trial of impeachments may differ somewhat from the federal model — in New York, for instance, the Assembly (lower house) impeaches, and the State Senate tries the case, but the members of the seven-judge New York State Court of Appeals (the state's highest, constitutional court) sit with the senators as jurors as well.[23] Impeachment and removal of governors has happened occasionally throughout the history of the United States, usually for corruption charges. A total of at least eleven U.S. state governors have faced an impeachment trial; a twelfth,Governor Lee Cruce of Oklahoma, escaped impeachment conviction by a single vote in 1912. Several others, most recently Connecticut's John G. Rowland, have resigned rather than face impeachment, when events seemed to make it inevitable.[24] The most recent impeachment of a state governor occurred on January 14, 2009, when the Illinois House of Representatives voted 117-1 to impeach Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges;[25] he was subsequently removed from office and barred from holding future office by the Illinois Senate on January 29. He was the eighth state governor in American history to be removed from office.
The procedure for impeachment, or removal, of local officials varies widely. For instance, in New York a mayor is removed directly by the governor "upon being heard" on charges — the law makes no further specification of what charges are necessary or what the governor must find in order to remove a mayor.
No comments:
Post a Comment