Impeachment

Presidential Impeachments

By: Elizabeth Almodovar

LS-500 Legal Process and Method

November 23, 2011

Professor Richardson

The United States Constitution 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."(Article II, Section 4) Therefore to impeach the President of the United States there is a long process that needs to be followed. The First step is to have the Judiciary Committee decides whether or not to bring impeachment proceedings against the President of the United State. They will have to make this determination using the Article of Impeachment. If they feel that they should go along with the impeachment they will then send their information over for the full house to vote on. Furthermore, if any of the Articles of Impeachment are approved by majority vote then the President will be impeached. Next step would be for the Senate to hold a trial. When this happens the Senate will review all the information and conduct a hearing, in which witness will testify. Therefore for the President to be removed from office there only need to have two-thirds vote from the Senate. With this information on hand will be discussing the impeachment trials of Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and William Clinton.

Our 17th President of the United States was Andrew Johnson. The reason that he became President was for the fact that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. During this time the Johnson seemed to be having control issues between him and Radicals. The issues had to do with the southern states and slavery. Therefore Johnson fired his Secretary of War, and with Congress acting in such a quick manner brought these actions against the President in as little as three days. On February 22, 1868 Congress then decided to bring the matter to the Senate. Andrew Johnson was being charged with violating...