Impeachment in the United States is the process by which a legislature brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed. The impeached official continues to serve their term until a trial is held. In impeachment proceedings, the defendant does not risk forfeiture of life, liberty, or property. According to the Constitution, the only penalties allowed to be imposed by the Senate are removal from office and disqualification from holding any federal office in the future.
About United States presidential impeachment in brief
Impeachment in the United States is the process by which a legislature brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there have been a few cases in which officials have been impeached and subsequently convicted for crimes committed prior to taking office. The impeached official continues to serve their term until a trial is held. In impeachment proceedings, the defendant does not risk forfeiture of life, liberty, or property. According to the Constitution, the only penalties allowed to be imposed by the Senate are removal from office and disqualification from holding any federal office in the future. The Constitution limits grounds of impeachment to \”Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors\”, but does not itself define \”high crimes and misdemeanors\”. Congress has identified three general types of conduct that constitute grounds for impeachment, although these categories should not be understood as exhaustive. In 1974, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s stated that ‘High crimes’ has traditionally been considered a very broad term to cover a wide range of crimes. In 1970, then-House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford defined the criterion as ‘An impeachable offense is whatever is a majority of the House of Representatives deem it to be. ‘Several commentators have suggested that Congress alone may decide for itself what constitutes a ‘high crime or misdemeanor’ The Supreme Court decided in Nixon v. United States that it did not have the authority to determine whether the Senate properly tried a defendant or whether the House had the right to decide whether the defendant was properly impeached or not.
The phrase was historically used to refer to a wide variety of crimes, like ‘term of war’, ‘levying war’ and ‘due process’ and other constitutional phrases such as ‘due war’, like ‘the art of the due process of law’ and ‘due process of war’. The term ‘high crimes’ was used to describe corrupt activity by those who have special duties that are not shared with common persons in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 18th century, it acquired a more technical meaning. The first and principal high misdemeanor… was mal-administration of such high offices as are in public trust and employment. It does not mean that the crimes themselves are unusual or unusual or are higher than other crimes, but they are carried out by a person in a position of public authority, or by misusing the public authority they have been given. Most state legislatures can impeach state officials, including the governor, in accordance with their respective state constitution. The U.S. Constitution provides: .. shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United. States, except in cases of impeachment. Article II, Section 4 provides: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanorors.
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This page is based on the article United States presidential impeachment published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 21, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
