In American Politics, impeachment is a legislature power to charge a public official for misconduct and remove such person from office if found guilty. The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power of impeaching, and makes Senate the sole court to try all impeachments. So far, no American Presidents have been removed from office as a result of impeachment. The impeachment process, according to Alexander Hamilton in the Federalists Papers, is regarded as an important tool in separation of powers to keep the executive branch in check. However, the process has been widely understood as a legal procedure, similar to a criminal prosecution. In Jeffrey Tulis’ “Impeachment in the Constitutional Order”, he argues that it is necessary …show more content…
Before the impeachment, there had been tension between President Andrew Johnson and republicans in Congress over the implementation of the Reconstruction Act. In 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson for his “high crimes and misdemeanors”. Explicitly, the House claimed that President Johnson had violated the Tenure of Office Act by replacing the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton with Ulysses Grant. In the Senate trial, Johnson escaped conviction by just one vote. Tulis argues that Congress had difficulty finding a strictly legal violation, although Johnson’s misconduct has violated his presidential duty multiple times by abusing his power and ignoring the legislature. Johnson’s offenses, according to Tulis, include refusing to enforce passed laws, abusing pardon power, refraining from appropriating Congressional budget, and verbally attacking his opponents in Congress. He argues, “Andrew Johnson’s political actions were impeachable not because some clause explicitly listed them as offenses, but because they threatened the very functioning of a separation of powers Constitution” (Tulis, “Impeachment in the Constitutional Order”). Although it was questionable whether Johnson was guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” or not, it was clear that his executive actions overstepped his constitutional power and breached the equilibrium of check …show more content…
For example, the House Investigation functions similar to prosecution and the Senate resembles to a jury. However, these parallels signal that the impeachment process and criminal trials are only similar in certain aspects. He writes, “to say that the process of removal of a president is like a criminal proceeding is also to say that it is not a criminal proceeding” (Tulis, “Impeachment in the Constitutional Order”). Tulis argues that since the Constitution could have easily defined the impeachment process as criminal trials but it did not do so, it demonstrates that impeachment is not a legal question but rather a political one. To further support his argument, Tulis indicates that the president is not protected by the double jeopardy clause in a hypothetical situation where he commits a heinous act, such as murder. Since the consequence of being convicted of impeachment is so light, which is to be removed from office, the president is also liable to the ordinary legal process of indictment and trial in addition to impeachment. This example shows that the impeachment process is not a criminal trial and therefore should not be interpreted solely as a legal
1. When the Constitution was drafted “Article II, Section 2, clause 2 grants the President the power to ‘appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States [except those whose positions are not otherwise already provided for in the Constitution. And] Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers…in the President alone” (Presidential Powers). However, the issue of removal powers of the president where not addressed within the Constitution, therefore this issue is one that has been debated. The issue with removal power is if the president is given too much power and many member of Congress opposed this power.
Ever since the creation of Congress, it has not been uncommon to hear or see negative criticisms about it. Congress has evolved from when it was created, but the role it plays has not changed. Even though there are many criticisms about the ways on how Congress is run, the system is an important and essential part of the United States government. Integral it may be, but today, many people find it difficult to answer the questions of how Congress works, what it does, and why it exists. In Lee Hamilton’s How Congress Works and Why you Should Care, the author shows what Congress actually does do and how it affects the American people every single day.
Johnson, a southern Democrat who supported the Union, had been chosen as a running mate by Lincoln in 1860 to try and appease both sides of the slavery debate. Johnson had been a tailor by trade prior to entering politics and had none of Lincoln’s skills as orator or negotiator. From the state of Tennessee, he had sympathy for the South and supported Lincoln’s plan of “restoration.” After Lincoln’s death, Johnson implemented his own plan, based loosely on the desires of Lincoln to shepherd the South back into the Union, but with several distinct changes. Johnson chose not to allow military nor civil leaders of the Confederacy to participate in the new government.
• In order to determine whether or not the executive privileges of the President should be recognized as legitimate in a court setting, it was necessary to identify how the ability to withhold information from judicial review may cause a disruption of due process. • Executive privilege was determined to not be absolute in nature, and therefore any material of interest to a court of law is fully subject to judicial review. • The President may still retain executive privileges, however, so long as they do not obstruct the judicial process and/or hinder the functioning capabilities of other branches of the Federal Government, in the interest of preserving checks and balances.
Johnson allegedly violated one of these laws, the Tenure of Office Act, by dismissing the Secretary of War. Congress felt the need to impeach him. Radical leaders felt President Johnson himself was an obstacle in their plans and felt that impeachment was the only option. The House of Representative voted eleven articles of impeachment against Johnson. In 1868 he was tried by the Senate in the spring and was acquitted of all charges by one vote.
Therefore, the party could easily implement its policies with little opposition. In 1868 President Andrew Johnson survived an impeachment attempt. This was after the senate failed to ratify the impeachment motion passed by the House of Representatives. The rationale behind the impeachment attempt was attributable to the fact that he acted in contravention of the Tenure of Office Act (Baggett, 2004). His role in influencing reconstruction policies was curtailed by Congress.
However some would argue that Nixon acted appropriately as president to "protect" the nation, but no president is above the law. Overall giving Congress a solid clear reason for Nixon being impeached. President Nixon abused his position of authority by paying several people to breach the DNC in an effort to get information for his benefit. Which one can achieve with the authority of the U.S. president. Being proved when Barabra Jordan states “The evidence reflects the payment to defendants of money.
In his speech he uses devices such as parallelism and repetition. After the Watergate Scandal, the House Judiciary Committee approved Nixon's impeachment for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of congress, it was very evident that Nixon would be removed from office. With all his political support completely gone, and his reputation depleting at a rapid rate, Nixon decided to resign publicly in
In statement on the articles of impeachment, Barbara Jordan facts that proved Nixon to be irresponsible, dishonest and profoundly involved in illegal situations. Barbara outlined both logical and emotional reasons in her speech to convince the House of Reprenstatives, and the American public that the President Nixon should be impeached. She stated that Nixon authorized break-ins at Democratic campaign headquarters in Washington and that he was involved in many political dirty tricks and improprieties. She added also that the President Nixon had tearing the Constitution and if he he is not stopped, he will use his power given by the White House to commit more crimes. Barbara was emotional and showed that she loves her country which is not the
Donald Trump Should Be Impeached Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States however is not known to be a not a great president. Trump has said many ignorant and racist remarks, and has no regrets for anyone. Donald has not only offended America, but has offended various countries as well. Trump has been considered the worst president in history, therefore he should be impeached. (Thesis) Donald Trump has been called out for his ridiculous statements, overconfidence and prejudice beliefs.
Many people all around the country probably won’t certainly agree with the author of A More Perfect Constitution by Larry Sabato. Larry Sabato main idea was that the United State Constitution was outdated and needed to be reform somehow. He believed a change to the Constitution will going to be really hard due to the massive number of traditional political conservatives that the country had. Sabato explain that these conservatives’ people will oppose to the idea of different view of the Constitution by saying “the Constitution is just good as it is”. The conservatives’ support only their views as the Constitution was just fine the way it is, and it was original because that was the intent of the founders in how to interpret the Constitution.
In The Rise of the Plebiscitary Presidency, Professor Craig Rimmerman argues against the “plebiscitary presidency”, where the president governs through the direct support of the American people. Rimmerman argues that the Framers of the Constitution assumed that the legislative branch would serve as the central policymaking role. The modern plebiscitary presidency has been shaped by the tremendous amount of personal power drawn from the people through the Supreme Court and Congress. Rimmerman argues that the consequence of a presidentially-centered form of government that Neustadt and other scholars failed to recognize is that presidents will strive to meet the expectations that come with the new presidency to the extreme, where they will exert
There are three federal branches in the U.S.; the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The judiciary branch has the “power” to evaluate law. It is able to take down a law or an executive branch to be declared as unconstitutional. However, declaring a law unconstitutional is not that easy for the courts. In Federalist NO. 78, written by Alexander Hamilton, the judiciary branch is said to be the weakest due to all of the ways the legislative and executive branch can enforce their power upon them.
The period of rebuilding southern infrastructure and North and South relations following the American civil war all the way to the year 1877 known as reconstruction had many successes and failures. The political and social aspects of this era were pivotal in determining the success of Reconstruction. The political state of the America during this period are greatly important to understanding reconstruction. Due to the republican president Lincoln’s assassination just days before the official end of the American civil war, the duty of guiding the United States through reconstruction was left to Democrat Andrew Johnson.
Due to his violations and counterproductive acts, President Andrew Johnson deserved his impeachment. The decisions Andrew Johnson made and