what is the required vote that is necessary to convict someone who is impeached

"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."
— U.S. Constitution, Article II, section iv

/tiles/non-collection/i/i_origins_impeach_stevens_2009_129_001crop.xml Collection of the U.Due south. House of Representatives
About this object Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, a Radical Republican, gave the concluding speech during House debate on articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson on March ii, 1868. Johnson became the first president impeached by the House, just he was later acquitted past the Senate past 1 vote.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole ability to impeach an official, and information technology makes the Senate the sole court for impeachment trials. The power of impeachment is limited to removal from office but too provides a ways by which a removed officer may be disqualified from holding future part. Fines and potential jail time for crimes committed while in office are left to ceremonious courts.

Origins

Impeachment comes from British constitutional history. The procedure evolved from the 14th century every bit a manner for parliament to agree the king'due south ministers answerable for their public actions. Impeachment, as Alexander Hamilton of New York explained in Federalist 65, varies from ceremonious or criminal courts in that it strictly involves the "misconduct of public men, or in other words from the corruption or violation of some public trust." Individual land constitutions had provided for impeachment for "maladministration" or "corruption" before the U.Southward. Constitution was written. And the founders, fearing the potential for abuse of executive power, considered impeachment and so important that they made it part of the Constitution even earlier they defined the contours of the presidency.

Ramble Framing

During the Federal Constitutional Convention, the framers addressed whether fifty-fifty to include impeachment trials in the Constitution, the venue and process for such trials, what crimes should warrant impeachment, and the likelihood of conviction. Rufus King of Massachusetts argued that having the legislative branch laissez passer judgment on the executive would undermine the separation of powers; amend to let elections punish a President. "The Executive was to hold his place for a express term similar the members of the Legislature," Rex said, so "he would periodically be tried for his behaviour by his electors." Massachusetts'southward Elbridge Gerry, however, said impeachment was a way to keep the executive in bank check: "A good magistrate will not fear [impeachments]. A bad one ought to be kept in fear of them."

/tiles/not-drove/i/i_origins_impeachment_lesliesbutler_2016_148_000-21.xml Collection of the U.Due south. House of Representatives
About this object The nation'south first presidential impeachment riveted the country and dominated America's newspapers in 1868, with blow-by-blow illustrations of the events.

Another issue arose regarding whether Congress might lack the resolve to attempt and convict a sitting President. Presidents, some delegates observed, controlled executive appointments which ambitious Members of Congress might find desirable. Delegates to the Convention as well remained undecided on the venue for impeachment trials. The Virginia Plan, which set the agenda for the Convention, initially contemplated using the judicial branch. Again, though, the founders chose to follow the British case, where the House of Eatables brought charges against officers and the Business firm of Lords considered them at trial. Ultimately, the founders decided that during presidential impeachment trials, the Business firm would manage the prosecution, while the Primary Justice would preside over the Senate during the trial.

The founders also addressed what crimes constituted grounds for impeachment. Treason and bribery were obvious choices, simply George Stonemason of Virginia thought those crimes did not include a large number of punishable offenses against the state. James Madison of Virginia objected to using the term "maladministration" because it was too vague. Mason then substituted "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" in improver to treason and bribery. The term "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" was a technical term—once more borrowed from British legal do—that denoted crimes by public officials confronting the authorities. Stonemason's revision was accepted without further debate. But subsequent experience demonstrated the revised phrase failed to clarify what constituted impeachable offenses.

/tiles/not-collection/i/i_origins_impeachment_watergatetapes_PA2019_12_0027.xml Collection of the U.S. Firm of Representatives
Nearly this object In 1974, presidential impeachment was closely followed by the printing, the public, and the House itself.

The Firm'southward Role

The House brings impeachment charges confronting federal officials as function of its oversight and investigatory responsibilities. Individual Members of the House tin innovate impeachment resolutions like ordinary bills, or the House could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution authorizing an inquiry. The Committee on the Judiciary usually has jurisdiction over impeachments, merely special committees investigated charges before the Judiciary Committee was created in 1813. The commission then chooses whether to pursue articles of impeachment confronting the accused official and report them to the total Firm. If the articles are adopted (by simple bulk vote), the House appoints Members by resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf. These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are usually members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials but has traditionally been an odd number. The partisan composition of managers has also varied depending on the nature of the impeachment, but the managers, past definition, ever support the House'due south impeachment action.

The Utilize of Impeachment

The House has initiated impeachment proceedings more than 60 times just less than a third have led to full impeachments. Just eight—all federal judges—have been convicted and removed from office by the Senate. Outside of the 15 federal judges impeached by the House, three Presidents [Andrew Johnson in 1868, William Jefferson (Nib) Clinton in 1998, and Donald J. Trump in 2019 and 2021], a cabinet secretary (William Belknap in 1876), and a U.S. Senator (William Blount of Tennessee in 1797) have also been impeached. In only three instances—all involving removed federal judges—has the Senate taken the additional pace of barring them from ever holding future federal office.

Blount'due south impeachment trial—the first e'er conducted—established the principle that Members of Congress and Senators were not "Ceremonious Officers" under the Constitution, and accordingly, they could only be removed from function past a two-thirds vote for expulsion past their respective chambers. Blount, who had been accused of instigating an insurrection of American Indians to further British interests in Florida, was not convicted, merely the Senate did miscarry him. Other impeachments have featured judges taking the demote when drunkard or profiting from their position. The trial of President Johnson, however, focused on whether the President could remove cabinet officers without obtaining Congress'southward approval. Johnson'south amortization firmly fix the precedent—debated from the beginning of the nation—that the President may remove appointees even if they required Senate confirmation to hold office.

For Further Reading

Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. 4 vols. (New Oasis and London: Yale University Press, 1937).

Kyvig, David E. The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960. (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2008).

Les Benedict, Michael. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. (New York: W.Due west. Norton & Company, 1999).

Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).

Melton, Buckner F., Jr. The Outset Impeachment: The Constitution'due south Framers and the Example of Senator William Blount. (Macon, Georgia: Mercer Academy Press, 1998).

Rehnquist, William H. Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson. (New York: Harper Perennial, 1999).

"Written report by the Staff of the Impeachment Research on the Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment," Commission Impress, Commission on the Judiciary, U.South. House of Representatives, 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., February 1974.

Storing, Herbert J., ed. The Complete Anti-Federalist. seven vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).

Sullivan, John. "Chapter 27—Impeachment," in Business firm Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents, and Procedures of the House. (Washington, D.C.: Regime Press Role, 2011).

Thomas, David Y. "The Police force of Impeachment in the U.s.a.," The American Political Science Review two (May 1908): 378–395.

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Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/

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