House Votes to Impeach: Origins of the Term & Process - Essay Sample

Introduction

On February 6th, 1974, the full house voted to start impeachment proceedings. This happened nine months after congressional committees had conducted investigations. The term impeachment is originated from the French word "empeechier". It refers to the process through which the lower legislature house charges a government official for crimes that have supposedly been committed. In some countries, the individual remains in office till he or she is taken to trial while in other countries, the official is temporarily relieved of their duties and removed from office. After impeachment, the official is taken to trial whereby a judgment either pronounced guilty or free of the charges against them. Conviction leads to the immediate removal of the individual from the office.

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Impeachment was a practice that was highly practiced in English history. The Founders used this name to punish crimes against the state, such as treason, misdemeanor, and bribery. According to them, a president was not to be impeached for committing personal crimes such as failure to pay his taxes or defrauding people's money. The president was to be charged after he left office. This was one main power that the president had, exception from prosecution (Kronlund et al. 6). Impeachment was not viewed as a punishment. It was used as a tool to protect the country's liberty. Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States founding fathers, was for the idea that the Senate should be responsible for conducting impeachment trials and should act as both judge and jury. He completely refuted the idea that the Senate would encroach the judicial branch's power.

In the United States, the House of Representatives has been given the power to impeach government officials. The responsibility of conducting trials for officers who have been impeached belongs to the Senate. Impeachment is the first step, then followed by a trial. For an official to be found guilty, two-thirds of the senate members have to come to an agreement by voting (Gerhardt and Michael). During the process of impeachment, the individual does not necessarily have to leave the office. It can be compared to a criminal accusation. The official being impeached faces a legislative vote to determine whether or not he or she is to be convicted.

The American constitution confines the boundaries of impeachment to bribery, treason, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. However, the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" is not clearly explained in the constitution. It was later defined as corrupt activities by officials with different duties from the common person. With time, the term was given a more technical definition (Crespo and Andrew 579). High crimes and misdemeanors included the misuse of high offices. In the recent past, however, the house of Congress has redefined the phrase and given it a broader definition by not limiting the term to criminal conducts by government officials.

An impeachment process can show that a non-criminal activity may institute enough grounds for impeachment. However, the impeachment process is not meant to exact punishment to an individual due to criminal activity. It is used as a remedial tool to serve the government by removing all the unfit and unsuitable individuals from office. Government officials are impeached based on the misuse of a government office or violating the trust of the public. In the U.S., officials have been impeached as a result of making biased decisions, drunkenness, or misappropriation of funds (Dodds and Graham 1). Others have been impeached due to unharmonious behavior with the nature of their offices. The Congress has come up with three types of misconducts that give ground for impeachment; 1 - abusing office powers, 2, using the office for personal interests, 3. Incompatible behavior with the purpose of the office. However, these are not exhaustive, and they cover a broad range of misconducts.

Since 1789, the House of Representatives has instigated 62 impeachment proceedings.20 federal officers have been successfully impeached.15 of them were judges, three presidents: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton who were later declared not guilty and Donald Trump who is currently still trial, a cabinet secretary and a U.S. senator ( Dodds Graham 2). The impeachment of the 45th president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, occurred on December 18th, 2019. It was instigated by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the house, on September 24th. Donald Trump was accused of misuse of presidential power and obstruction of Congress.

On the charges concerning abuse of presidential power, Donald Trump was accused of using the Ukrainian government to help him retain his presidential seat in the coming elections. Trump allegedly coerced Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, to help him by withholding military aid meant for Ukraine (Dodds and Graham 2). In addition to that, there was a proposed meeting between the two presidents. Trump supposedly used this as a bargaining chip with the intent to force the Ukrainian president to pursue investigations that the former U.S. vice president Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, his son. Joe Biden was a significant threat to Donald Trump since he was his main competitor. In addition to that, he wanted Zelensky to investigate a conspiracy theory that Ukraine was behind the tampering of the elections in Russia and not the United States

The second charges were obstruction of Congress. Trump denied the White House staff permission to testify during the first impeachment proceeding. He denied all allegations against him. In the voting process in the House Judiciary Committee, there were 23 votes in favor of Donald's impeachment on the charges of abuse of power and 17 votes against it. On the allegations of obstruction of Congress, there were 23 votes in agreement with his impeachment and 17 votes against it. Therefore, the house voted to impeach Trump (Dodds and Graham 2). He is yet to be tried. If President Trump is convicted, he would be relieved of his duties, and the vice president would take over as president.

The impeachment process is at the federal level involves three steps. First, Congress conducts an investigation that begins in the House Judiciary Committee. Second, the House of Representatives must vote after listening to the allegations. For an official to be impeached, two-thirds of the house has to find him guilty. Third, the accused presents him or herself to the Senate for trial (Gerhardt and Michael). In the case that the president of the United States is impeached, the chief justice chairs the proceedings. For other government officials, the proceedings are presided over by the president of the Senate, who is also the Vice President.

In the United States, if a government official is impeached and is found guilty during trial, he or she is supposed to be removed from office. Over the years, there have been attempts to impeach a number of presidents in the U.S. However, only two presidents have been efficaciously impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Impeachment is essential since it makes it possible to remove incompetent leaders from office.

Works Cited

Crespo, Andrew Manuel. "Impeachment as Punishment." Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 13 (2018): 579.

Dodds, Graham G. "High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump Bowman III Frank O., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 465." Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique (2019): 1-2.

Gerhardt, Michael J. The federal impeachment process: A constitutional and historical analysis. University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Kronlund, Anna, and Bruce Blair. "A political not judicial process: impeachment in the U.S." Politiikasta 6 (2019).