Amen
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution states:
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.
Essentially, a resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings is initiated in the House of Reps and forwarded to a committee for review. If the committee believes grounds for impeachment exist, it drafts articles of impeachment and submits them to the full House for approval. If passed by a majority vote, the Articles are then sent to the Senate which conducts a trial where the Senators sit as the judges and the Representatives act as the "prosecutor". Conviction takes a two-thirds vote of the entire Senate.
Clinton and Johnson were both impeached but aquitted.
Nixon resigned before being impeached. The impeachment process had begun as the House Judiciary Committee had recommended charges but the formal impeachment had not been approved by the House. Nixon deemed (correctly) that both the impeachment and subsequent conviction as inevitable and resigned instead.
Actual impeachments of only the following seventeen federal officers have taken place:
Two presidents: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, both acquitted.
One cabinet officer, acquitted after he had resigned.
One senator
Thirteen federal judges, including Associate Justice Samuel Chase in 1805, seven of whom were convicted (after his conviction, former judge Alcee Hastings was elected as a member of the House of Representatives).
See Impeachment in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
07-17-2007, 11:12 PM
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