The original Article, “A Short History of Impeachment,” can be found here.
In the United States, the Constitution explains the procedures for impeaching public officials in Article I, Sections 2 and 3, and causes for impeachment in Article II, Section 4. Such causes include treason and bribery, among other “high crimes and misdemeanors. The procedure for impeachment is a two-step process: first, a formal accusation (impeachment) by the House of Representatives through a majority vote, followed by a trial and conviction by the Senate through a more difficult two-thirds vote. The vice president presides over all impeachment proceedings except those of the president, which are presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to avoid any direct conflicts of interest.
Bribery, perjury, and treason are the most obvious offenses meriting impeachment, but a wide spectrum of other bad behavior- such as general abuse of power and misconduct- may lead to trial. However, political rivalry should not, as it has in several impeachment cases where politics were confused with crimes. Because Congress must judge public officials, it must adopt an impartial judicial role.
Sixteen federal officials have been impeached since 1797, including two presidents, a cabinet member, a senator, a Supreme Court Justice, and eleven federal judges. Seven officials, all judges, were convicted and removed. This list does not include those officials who resigned to avoid facing impeachment.
Senator William Blount of Tennessee was the United States’ first impeachment in 1797, but charges against him were dismissed when the Senate determined that it had no jurisdiction over its own members (he was expelled, regardless). Judge John Pickering of New Hampshire was the first official to be convicted in impeachment hearings, found guilty of drunkenness and unlawful rulings in 1804. Associate Justice Samuel Chase was impeached for judicial bias against anti-Federalists, but was acquitted. The 1805 ruling established a precedent against politically-motivated impeachment. Other officials were impeached over the following 200 years for bribery, cheating on income taxes, perjury, and treason.
Only two U.S. presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth, and William J. Clinton, the forty-second. Johnson was a Southern Democrat who succeeded Lincoln following the assassination and supported a mild postbellum policy of reconstruction. Radical Republicans looked negatively upon his lenient position toward ex-Confederates and negligence of ex-slaves, revealed by civil-rights bill vetoes and opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment. To diminish his strength and to protect their allies in the administration, the Tenure of Office Act was passed, which Johnson defied by firing Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. This violation of the law became basis for impeachment, but the Senate fell one vote short of the necessary supermajority, leading to Johnson’s 1868 acquittal. Senator Charles Sumner defined the proceedings as “political in character,” and historians generally agree.
Bill Clinton fell victim to a discussion of character issues even prior to his election. Primarily, Kenneth Starr revealed a web of alleged sexual advances and affairs in Clinton’s history, leading to a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. After repeated denials, including in testimony under oath, in 1998 Clinton admitted the affair. In 1998 the “Starr Report” outlining the findings was presented to the House of Representatives. Many felt that the report was a political attack against the President instead of a legal justification for impeachment. Eleven possible grounds for impeachment were cited by Starr, but only four were approved: grand jury perjury, civil suit perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. After debate over constitutionality of the proceedings and whether censure was an appropriate alternative, Clinton was impeached for grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice, with votes divided along party lines. The Senate was unable to garner enough support to achieve a two-thirds majority, however, and in 1999 Clinton was acquitted on both counts.
Of thirty-five impeachment attempts, only nine have made it to trial. The lengthy process makes impeachment infrequent, and many officials resign instead of facing the disgrace of public trial. President Richard Nixon’s case is the most famous: after men in Nixon’s hire were caught stealing from the Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate in 1972, Nixon attempted a cover-up and refused to turn over evidence, leading to his impeachment in 1974. He was indicted for illegal wiretapping, misuse of the CIA, perjury, bribery, obstruction of justice, and other abuses of executive power,
