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Impeached Federal Officials: Impeachment of a U.S. President Recent Demands for Impeachment Impeachment of a U.S. President:
Federal Officials Impeached in the United States:
Notes: (1.) During the impeachment trial of Senator Blount, it was argued that the House of Representatives did not have the power to impeach members of either House of Congress; though the Senate never explicitly ruled on this argument, the House has never again impeached a member of Congress. The Constitution allows either House to expel one of its members by a two-thirds vote, which the Senate had done to Blount on the same day the House impeached him (but before the Senate heard the case.) (2.) Judge Nixon later challenged the validity of his removal from office on procedural grounds; the challenge was ultimately rejected as nonjusticiable by the Supreme Court in Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993) (3.) The House of Representatives impeached President Clinton on December 19, 1998, on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (voting 228-206) and obstruction of justice (221-212). Two other articles of impeachment failed — a second count of perjury in the Paula Jones case (205-229), and one accusing Clinton of abuse of power (148-285). The Senate impeachment trial lasted from January 7, 1999, until February 12. No witnesses were called during the trial, although four individuals (President Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Sidney Blumenthal (a senior aide to President Clinton) and Vernon Jordan (Democratic power broker and confidant of President Clinton)) testified via videotape.[citation needed] A two-thirds majority, 67 votes, would have been necessary to remove the President from office. Both charges were defeated: perjury (45–55) and obstruction of justice (50–50). Source: WikiPedia While actually impeaching a federal public official is a rare event, demands for impeachment, especially of presidents, are extremely common, going back to the administration of George Washington in the mid-1790s. In fact, most of the 63 resolutions mentioned above were in response to presidential actions. While almost all of them were for the most part frivolous and were buried as soon as they were introduced, several did have their intended effect. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas both resigned in response to the threat of impeachment hearings, an attempt to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas led by then House Minority Leader Gerald Ford was ultimately unsuccessful, and, most famously, President Richard Nixon resigned from office after the House Judiciary Committee had already reported articles of impeachment to the floor. In January 1843, the House defeated a motion to form a committee of impeachment of President John Tyler by a vote of 84 in favor, 127 against. In addition, the original mandate of the joint committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair was to look for evidence that might have lead to the impeachment of President Ronald Reagan. Source: WikiPedia Recent demands for impeachment: In April 2007, Rep. Dennis Kucinich submitted a resolution (Resolution 333) to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Like all resolutions, his resolution was referred to a Committee--in this case, the Judiciary Committee. But the Committee formed no plans to schedule debate, or a hearing, on his resolution, and Cheney succeeded in serving his term to completion, which expired January 20, 2009. In 2007, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House sought impeachment hearings by the Judiciary Committee against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales ultimately resigned. On November 6, 2007, the House referred an impeachment motion, Resolution 333, pressed again by Kucinich, against Vice President Cheney to the House Judiciary Committee for further study. The Republicans wanted this motion killed, but Democrats forced them to push the measure into the House Judiciary Committee for further discussion. On June 9, 2008 Dennis Kucinich delivered 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush to the U.S. House of Representatives. But like Cheney, Bush also served his term to completion. On June 19, 2008, the Judicial Conference of the United States delivered to the House of Representatives notification certifying "its determination that consideration of impeachment of United States District Judge Thomas Porteous (E.D. La.) may be warranted." The mandate to investigate Porteus was renewed in January of 2009 and is ongoing. Source: WikiPedia |
