How does the impeachment process work?
About this video
The video explains where impeachment came from and how it works under the US Constitution. Borrowed from British and state practice, it was limited to removal from office and a possible ban on serving again. The House impeaches, the Senate holds a trial, and the president is included so that he is not above the law.
You'll be able to
- describe the roles of the House and the Senate in impeachment and removal.
- explain how the framers limited impeachment compared with British and state practice.
- explain why the framers made the president subject to impeachment.
Key words
- Impeachment
- The House of Representatives formally charging (indicting) an official with serious wrongdoing.
- Removal
- Taking an official out of office after the Senate finds them guilty at trial.
- High crimes and misdemeanors
- The constitutional phrase, alongside treason and bribery, for the serious misconduct that can lead to removal.
- Civil officers
- Officials of the United States government, such as federal judges, who can be impeached like the president.
- Legal fiction
- Something the law treats as true even though it isn't, like the idea that the British crown could do no wrong.
Transcript
This process of impeachment and removal comes from British practice that it was replicated in the States. The idea was that ministerial officers, executive and judicial officers ought to be removable via a quasi criminal process in a legislative body. In the States, you had this impeachment process, and it could actually be used to impose criminal punishment. When you get to the Constitutional Convention, they want to replicate it, but they want to limit it to just removal from office and banning the person from serving again. The President, along with all civil officers of the United States, including federal judges, is subject to impeachment and removal for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The process is the house impeaches or indicts the president. The Senate conducts a trial where they decide whether
the president is guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. Then if the president or other people are guilty, they remove the person and possibly impose a lifetime ban. The president was made subject to this just like every other civil officer. The thought was this, among other things, makes the president a responsible executive not someone above the law. In Great Britain, it was thought that the crown could do no wrong which was a legal fiction.
They said the crown could do no wrong because there was no means of holding the crown legally responsible. They didn't want to replicate that. Of course, they had an example of responsible executives in the States and those executives were subject to impeachment. It seemed natural that the president would be as well. The only difference is that the Chief Justice sits as the president of the Senate when the president is on trial, rather than the vice presidents sitting as president of the Senate during that trial.
Video © Khan Academy, used under CC BY-NC-SA. Watch on Khan Academy. Puzzicle is not affiliated with Khan Academy.