How the presidential impeachment process works
President Donald Trump walks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
On Sept. 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the current impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. With proceedings underway, one has to wonder — how does the impeachment process actually work?
Impeachment: What is it?
Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the House of Representatives “shall have the sole power of impeachment.”
The actual “power of impeachment” is described in Article II, Section 4: “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
The idea of “high crimes and misdemeanors” has been subject to a range of interpretations over time — some, like Jon Roland of the Constitution Society, interpret the word “high” as “[referring] to those punishable offenses that only apply to high persons, that is, to public officials.”
Other people interpret the use of “high” differently, seeing it as a synonym of words like “severe” or “extreme.”
When an impeachment inquiry is announced, House committees are convened to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.
Articles of impeachment are then drafted by a House entity — this could be a single House representative, a single committee or a coalition of multiple committees, according to The Guardian.
The last step in impeachment occurs when drafted articles of impeachment are brought forward to the House of Representatives, where a vote is held on whether or not to impeach the president.
If a simple majority of representatives vote in favor of the articles, the president is then “impeached.” Besides the shameful connotation of being impeached, impeachment is officially nothing more than establishing a precedent for a president’s removal.
Upon a successful impeachment, the Senate then convenes to judge whether or not to remove a president from office, requiring a two-thirds majority to do so.
The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: Background
Public debates on the prospect of impeaching Trump have been ongoing since his inauguration in January 2017.
The creation of a Special Counsel Investigation headed by special prosecutor Robert Mueller — which examined Trump’s alleged ties to the Russian government during the 2016 election — caused further debate about the prospect of impeaching Trump.
Two months ago, The Washington Post broke a story detailing the complaint of a whistle-blower regarding a deal between President Donald Trump and a then-unknown foreign leader.
Additional information released by the House Intelligence Committee and the Trump Administration has identified this foreign leader as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Sept. 24, Trump declassified the phone call referenced by the whistle-blower, detailing his conversation with Zelenskyy on July 25.
In the phone call, Trump requests that Zelenskyy “look into” the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. Trump alleges that Hunter Biden — the son of former U.S. Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden — played a role in Shokin’s firing.
Trump’s query for Zelenskyy to investigate Biden’s past relations with Ukraine prompted scrutiny by House Democrats in light of a Washington Post article that revealed Trump had withheld about $400 million of military aid funding to Ukraine at least a week prior to his call to Zelenskyy.
This series of events prompted Pelosi to announce the beginning of the Trump Impeachment Inquiry, which is currently ongoing.
The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: The Future
Assuming Congress votes along party lines, the House — with its current 233 Democrats, 197 Republicans and a single Independent — will successfully impeach Trump via a simple majority of 216 votes.
However, assuming the Senate also votes along party lines, Trump will have avoided impeachment by a fairly wide margin.
The Senate is currently composed of 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats, as well as two Independents. Removal requires a total of 67 votes in favor, which seems unlikely to occur without at least 20 Republican Senators voting for removal.
The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: What do you think?
Professor of History Dr. John Coats has studied past impeachments, such as the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, the attempted removal and resulting resignation of President Richard Nixon, the attempted impeachment of President Ronald Reagan during the Iran-Contra Scandal and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
“Impeachment is always political,” Coats said. “It’s meant to be political because politicians pursue it. I think if it wasn’t meant to be political, the constitution would give the courts jurisdiction.”
Coats described the impeachment proceedings regarding Ukraine as “political theater,” saying congressional Democrats are seeking to appeal to voters in their attempt to remove the president, regardless of the inquiry’s actual results.
“At present, it appears that there’s not a smoking gun that will show a high crime or misdemeanor that will cause Senate Republicans to vote with Democrats to remove Trump,” Coats said.
Junior theatre and history major Anna Lazily said she found Trump’s impeachment inquiry ironic due to his use of the phrase “lock her up” in reference to his rival Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I wish impeachment had come less close to the next election,” Lazily said. “With the new election coming around, the impeachment process — if [Democrats] don’t see it through, then [Trump’s] supporters will see him as a martyr, and there’s no way they will vote for the alternative candidate.”
Junior information systems major Austin Howell sees the impeachment inquiry as an event that has been several years in the making, citing opposition to the president since his inauguration in 2017.
“I’m not the biggest fan of the president, but I have always wanted him to succeed in running the nation well,” Howell said. “The biggest thing for me is that I want any information to be disclosed to the public in the right manner.”
Howell stressed the value of a free exchange of information, saying he would prefer access to as much information as possible in order to best form his own opinions.
“I don’t think the Senate will vote in favor of the Democratic-led impeachment,” Howell said. “But I hope the trial is fair and all evidence is considered in the final decision.”
To share your thoughts on the impeachment inquiry, leave a comment below. Footage of the recent Trump impeachment hearings can be found on C-SPAN.
