- [Instructor] What we're going to focus on
in this video is the idea of impeachment,
what it is and how it works, with a little bit
of historical background.
So, before we go into impeachment,
let's just review some key ideas about the US government.
We have this idea of separation of powers.
Where you have these three, somewhat independent
branches of government.
You have the Executive Branch,
headed by the President of the United States,
in charge of running the state, running the government.
You have the Legislative Branch,
which in the United States has two houses,
you have the House of Representatives
and you have the Senate.
And it's in charge of passing laws
and deciding on the budget that the government,
that the Executive Branch uses to run the government.
And we have the Judicial Branch,
which is the US Supreme Court.
And related to this idea of separation of powers,
they're not completely independent,
but it's designed to be in a way
that not one group or no one group can overrun the others.
And what helps them do this is this idea
of checks and balances.
That for example, the Legislative can pass a law,
but the Executive Branch can veto it,
but the Legislative can override that veto.
You have the Judicial Branch that can decide on
the constitutionality of a law that the Legislative Branch
passes or even an action that the Executive Branch takes.
And it can even interpret the laws
that have already been passed.
The Executive Branch can appointment the members
of the US Supreme Court.
So, you see this idea of checks and balances.
And perhaps the biggest check
that the Legislative Branch has, is the idea of impeachment.
So what is it?
So, some people believe, or are under the impression,
that impeachment is, if someone gets impeached
they are removed from office, that is not the case.
Impeachment is really a formal accusation,
in legal terms you might hear the word indictment.
Indictment is a formal accusation.
And so if the US House of Representatives
with the majority vote decides to make a formal accusation
against, say, the President, that would be impeachment.
But even if that passes, then the Senate will try
the President, to decide if they will actually be convicted.
So, once the indictment happens and this would be the House
that does this with just a simple majority,
then the Senate, so this is the Senate right over here,
they're going to decide whether to convict the individual,
which could be the President, or they might acquit,
which is saying that formal accusation is not valid.
Now another thing to appreciate is,
the Senate can't send the President to jail,
but what they can do is remove them from office
and keep them from holding office in the future.
Now historically, only two President have been impeached.
This right over here is a drawing of the impeachment
proceedings for President Andrew Johnson in 1869,
17th President of the United States.
And he was impeached,
which means the House of Representatives, had a majority
saying that he did a high crime and misdemeanor,
and we'll talk more about that in a little bit.
Which officially by doing that indictment
that made it an impeachment,
so he has been officially impeached.
They claim that he violated the Tenure of Office Act,
which prevented the President from firing cabinet members
without congressional permission,
but he decided to fire his Secretary of War,
which is now called the Secretary of Defense,
without congressional approval and so they impeached him.
But he did not get convicted, he was acquitted,
the Senate was not able to get the two-thirds majority.
The other President to be impeached is much more recent.
This is President Bill Clinton in 1998,
the US House of Representatives with a simple majority
was able to impeach him on accusations
of obstruction of justice, so that you can imagine
is something that prevents a prosecutor from, say,
finding information and perjury, which is lying under oath.
But once again, even though he was impeached,
when it went to the Senate, they weren't able to get
the two-thirds super majority, to remove him from office.
So, neither of them, even though they were both impeached,
were actually removed from office.
The closest that a President actually got removed
from office from something that was like impeachment
was Richard Nixon.
Richard Nixon was about to be impeached,
but he resigned instead of having to go through
the impeachment proceedings
and then possibly getting convicted.
But to really appreciate what impeachment is,
let's just go straight to the original text
in the Constitution.
This is from Article I, Section 2, Clause 5,
The House of Representatives shall chuse,
and this is actually how they spelled the word choose
in the Constitution.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker
and other Officers;
and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
The Senate shall have the sole Power
to try all Impeachments.
So, once again the impeachment is just the formal accusation
it actually gets tried by the Senate
to decide if the person is actually guilty
of that accusation.
When sitting for that Purpose,
they shall be on Oath or Affirmation.
When the President of the United States is tried,
the Chief Justice shall preside.
So, once again, we often associate impeachment
with the President, but this is making clear
it's not just about impeaching the President.
When it is the President, who's being tried,
it would be the Chief Justice who presides
over the proceedings, in the Senate.
And no Person shall be convicted
without the Concurrence of two thirds
of the Members present.
So, in the House, if they can get to over 50%,
then the accusation is formal,
the person is essentially being indicted,
which is called impeachment, but they're not going to
be convicted without two thirds of the Senate.
I encourage you to think about why the threshold
here is higher.
Why the founders of our country decided
to make this threshold two thirds instead
of a simple majority.
Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend
further than to removal from Office,
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any
Office of honor, Trust, or Profit under the United States:
but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable
and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment,
according to the Law.
So, here they're saying, the most that the Senate can do,
through the impeachment proceedings
is remove them from office and maybe prevent them
from holding any other office,
but they can't send them to jail,
the same way the traditional legal system could.
But if someone really did commit a crime,
they still will be subject to the traditional legal system.
Finally, we see here in Article II,
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.
And there's actually two points of ambiguity here.
Who falls under all civil officers of the United States?
Does a member of congress fall into that category?
This is actually a matter of some debate.
And what is a high crime and misdemeanor?
Most people understand what treason and bribery are.
But what is a high crime and misdemeanor?
And this has been subject of debate.
What is an impeachable offense?
And to answer that question, I'll leave you with a quote
from Gerald Ford, who became President when Richard Nixon
resigned because he was about to be impeached
and this is what he had to say.
"An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the
"House of Representatives considers it to be at a given
"moment in history;
"conviction results from whatever offense
"or offenses two-thirds of the other body," the Senate,
"considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal
"of the accused from office."
So, he's taking a very pragmatic stance here.
You have this notion of high crimes and misdemeanors,
what does that mean?
And Gerald Ford is saying, well,
whatever the House of Representatives thinks that means.
And so an interesting question is,
how susceptible does this make the notion
of impeachment to politics?
And is that okay?
And maybe the founders of our country recognized that
and that's why they had a higher threshold
for actual conviction and removal of office in the Senate.