what percent of house of represenatives does it take to impeach a president

"The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the Us, shall exist removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Blackmail, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
— U.S. Constitution, Commodity Two, section 4

/tiles/non-collection/i/i_origins_impeach_stevens_2009_129_001crop.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
Almost this object Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, a Radical Republican, gave the last spoken communication during House debate on articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson on March 2, 1868. Johnson became the first president impeached by the Business firm, but he was later acquitted by the Senate by i vote.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole ability to impeach an official, and it makes the Senate the sole courtroom for impeachment trials. The ability of impeachment is express to removal from office but too provides a means past which a removed officer may be disqualified from holding futurity office. Fines and potential jail time for crimes committed while in part are left to ceremonious courts.

Origins

Impeachment comes from British constitutional history. The process evolved from the 14th century as a way for parliament to agree the king'due south ministers accountable for their public actions. Impeachment, as Alexander Hamilton of New York explained in Federalist 65, varies from ceremonious or criminal courts in that it strictly involves the "misconduct of public men, or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust." Individual country constitutions had provided for impeachment for "maladministration" or "corruption" before the U.S. Constitution was written. And the founders, fearing the potential for abuse of executive power, considered impeachment so important that they fabricated it office of the Constitution fifty-fifty before they defined the contours of the presidency.

Constitutional Framing

During the Federal Ramble Convention, the framers addressed whether even to include impeachment trials in the Constitution, the venue and procedure for such trials, what crimes should warrant impeachment, and the likelihood of conviction. Rufus King of Massachusetts argued that having the legislative branch pass judgment on the executive would undermine the separation of powers; amend to let elections punish a President. "The Executive was to hold his place for a express term like the members of the Legislature," Rex said, so "he would periodically be tried for his behaviour past his electors." Massachusetts's Elbridge Gerry, however, said impeachment was a way to keep the executive in check: "A good magistrate volition not fear [impeachments]. A bad one ought to exist kept in fright of them."

/tiles/non-collection/i/i_origins_impeachment_lesliesbutler_2016_148_000-21.xml Collection of the U.Due south. House of Representatives
Most this object The nation's commencement presidential impeachment riveted the state and dominated America's newspapers in 1868, with blow-by-accident illustrations of the events.

Another issue arose regarding whether Congress might lack the resolve to try and convict a sitting President. Presidents, some delegates observed, controlled executive appointments which aggressive Members of Congress might find desirable. Delegates to the Convention also remained undecided on the venue for impeachment trials. The Virginia Program, which set the agenda for the Convention, initially contemplated using the judicial branch. Again, though, the founders chose to follow the British example, where the Business firm of Commons brought charges against officers and the Business firm of Lords considered them at trial. Ultimately, the founders decided that during presidential impeachment trials, the House would manage the prosecution, while the Chief Justice would preside over the Senate during the trial.

The founders likewise addressed what crimes constituted grounds for impeachment. Treason and blackmail were obvious choices, just George Mason of Virginia idea those crimes did not include a large number of punishable offenses confronting the state. James Madison of Virginia objected to using the term "maladministration" because information technology was too vague. Mason then substituted "other loftier Crimes and Misdemeanors" in add-on to treason and bribery. The term "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" was a technical term—once more borrowed from British legal practise—that denoted crimes by public officials against the government. Mason's revision was accustomed without farther debate. But subsequent experience demonstrated the revised phrase failed to clarify what constituted impeachable offenses.

/tiles/non-drove/i/i_origins_impeachment_watergatetapes_PA2019_12_0027.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object In 1974, presidential impeachment was closely followed by the press, the public, and the Business firm itself.

The House'due south Role

The Business firm brings impeachment charges against federal officials equally part of its oversight and investigatory responsibilities. Private Members of the Business firm can introduce impeachment resolutions like ordinary bills, or the Business firm could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution authorizing an research. The Committee on the Judiciary normally has jurisdiction over impeachments, simply special committees investigated charges before the Judiciary Committee was created in 1813. The committee then chooses whether to pursue manufactures of impeachment against the accused official and report them to the full House. If the articles are adopted (past uncomplicated majority vote), the Business firm appoints Members past resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf. These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are normally members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials but has traditionally been an odd number. The partisan composition of managers has as well varied depending on the nature of the impeachment, but the managers, past definition, always support the Firm's impeachment action.

The Use of Impeachment

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—accept been convicted and removed from function by the Senate. Outside of the xv federal judges impeached by the House, three Presidents [Andrew Johnson in 1868, William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton in 1998, and Donald J. Trump in 2019 and 2021], a cabinet secretary (William Belknap in 1876), and a U.South. Senator (William Blount of Tennessee in 1797) have likewise been impeached. In only three instances—all involving removed federal judges—has the Senate taken the additional footstep of barring them from ever holding future federal office.

Blount's impeachment trial—the showtime ever conducted—established the principle that Members of Congress and Senators were non "Ceremonious Officers" under the Constitution, and appropriately, they could just be removed from office by a ii-thirds vote for expulsion by their respective chambers. Blount, who had been defendant of instigating an insurrection of American Indians to further British interests in Florida, was not bedevilled, only the Senate did miscarry him. Other impeachments accept featured judges taking the bench when boozer or profiting from their position. The trial of President Johnson, however, focused on whether the President could remove chiffonier officers without obtaining Congress'due south approval. Johnson's acquittal firmly set the precedent—debated from the beginning of the nation—that the President may remove appointees even if they required Senate confirmation to hold function.

For Further Reading

Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. 4 vols. (New Haven and London: Yale Academy Press, 1937).

Kyvig, David E. The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960. (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2008).

Les Bridegroom, Michael. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999).

Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).

Melton, Buckner F., Jr. The First Impeachment: The Constitution'due south Framers and the Case of Senator William Blount. (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1998).

Rehnquist, William H. Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson. (New York: Harper Perennial, 1999).

"Report past the Staff of the Impeachment Enquiry on the Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment," Committee Impress, Committee on the Judiciary, U.Due south. House of Representatives, 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., February 1974.

Storing, Herbert J., ed. The Complete Anti-Federalist. 7 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).

Sullivan, John. "Chapter 27—Impeachment," in Business firm Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents, and Procedures of the House. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2011).

Thomas, David Y. "The Police force of Impeachment in the U.s.," The American Political Science Review 2 (May 1908): 378–395.

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Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/

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