The 10 Steps to Impeach a PresidentIt won’t be easy to impeach...

The 10 Steps to Impeach a PresidentIt won’t be easy to impeach Donald Trump. No president in American history has ever been
convicted on articles of impeachment. Only two presidents so far have been
impeached by the House and had that impeachment go to the Senate for trial. The first was
Andrew Johnson, in 1868, when the Senate came one vote short of convicting him.
The next was 131 years later, in 1999, when Bill Clinton’s impeachment went to
the Senate. 50 Senators voted to convict Clinton, 17 votes short of what was
needed.

What about Richard Nixon? He resigned early in this process, before the House
had even voted on articles of impeachment. And then his successor, who had been
his vice president, Gerald Ford, gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for
any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.

This isn’t to say Trump couldn’t or won’t be impeached. Only that it’s a long and drawn-out process. 

It all revolves around
Article I Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution, and rules in the House and the
Senate implementing those provisions.

Step 1. It starts in the House Judiciary Committee, when a
majority of the member vote in favor of what’s called an “inquiry of
impeachment” resolution.

Step 2. That resolution goes to the full House of
Representatives where a majority has to vote in favor. And then votes to
authorize and fund a full investigation by the Judiciary Committee into whether
sufficient grounds exist for impeachment.

Step 3. The House Judiciary Committee investigates. That
investigation doesn’t have to be from scratch. It can rely on data and
conclusions of other investigations undertaken by, say, the FBI.

Step 4: A majority of the Judiciary Committee members decides
there are sufficient grounds for impeachment, and the Committee issues a
“Resolution of Impeachment,” setting forth specific allegations of
misconduct in one or more articles of impeachment.

Step 5: The full House then considers that Resolution and votes
in favor of it – as a whole or on each article separately. The full House
isn’t bound by the Committee’s work. The House may vote to impeach even if the
Committee doesn’t recommend impeachment.

Step 6: The matter then goes to the Senate for a trial. The
House’s Resolution of Impeachment becomes in effect the charges in this trial.

Step 7: The Senate issues a summons to the president, who is now
effectively the defendant, informing him of the charges and the date by which
he has to answer them. If the president chooses not to answer or appear, it’s
as if he entered a “not guilty” plea.

Step 8 is the trial in the Senate. In that trial, those who are
representing the House – that is, the prosecution – and counsel for the
president, both make opening arguments. They then introduce evidence and put on
witnesses as in any trial. Witnesses are subject to examination and
cross-examination. The trial is presided over by the chief justice of the
Supreme Court – who has the authority to rule on evidentiary questions or may
put such questions to a vote of the Senate. The House managers and counsel for
the president then make closing arguments.

Step 9: The Senate meets in closed session to deliberate.

Step 10: The Senate returns in open session to vote on whether
to convict the president on the articles of impeachment. Conviction requires a
two-thirds vote by the Senate. Conviction on one or more articles of
impeachment results in removal from office. Such a conviction also disqualifies
the now former president from holding any other public office. And it doesn’t
bar additional legal proceedings against that former president, and punishment.

So
there you have it–the 10 steps that must all take place to impeach the
president. 

It may come in handy.