What is impeachment?

Impeachment is the constitutional process for charging a federal official with serious misconduct and potentially removing them from office. Impeachment is set out in Articles I and II of the Constitution. Article II, Section 4 specifies that the President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States can be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Impeachment is a two-step process involving both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach, meaning to bring formal charges. The Senate has the sole power to try impeachments. To impeach an official, the House passes articles of impeachment by a simple majority vote. Each article specifies a particular charge of high crimes and misdemeanors.

After the House impeaches, the Senate holds a trial. Senators sit as jurors. The Chief Justice of the United States presides if the President is on trial; in other cases, the Vice President or the President Pro Tempore presides. The trial includes opening arguments by both sides, presentation of evidence, witness testimony in some cases, and closing arguments. Senators then vote on each article of impeachment. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote, the same supermajority threshold used for treaty ratification and constitutional amendments. If convicted, the official is removed from office. The Senate can also bar the convicted official from holding future federal office, by a separate simple-majority vote.

Impeachment has been used 21 times in American history. Three Presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 (acquitted by one vote), Bill Clinton in 1998 (acquitted), and Donald Trump in 2019 and again in 2021 (acquitted both times). No President has been removed through impeachment. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before he could be impeached, after the House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment but before a full House vote.

Federal judges have been impeached more often than other officials. Eight federal judges have been removed through impeachment, most recently Judge Thomas Porteous in 2010. Cabinet officials have also been impeached, though only one (Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876) was tried by the Senate, which acquitted him.

Impeachment is intentionally difficult, requiring action by both chambers and a Senate supermajority to remove. The framers wanted impeachment to be a serious remedy for serious misconduct, not a routine political tool.