Impeachment

Impeachment is your guide to understanding how the US government has the power to remove a president and reviews the events surrounding past evictions of the commander-in-chief.

The founding fathers understood that having a president was necessary, but weren’t going to allow any shenanigans with adverse effects. Would it be possible to write constitutional laws that could allow for the removal of corrupt leaders in the future?

This is part of what made the process so difficult. The wording had to be precise enough that Congresses in the future could throw out an unethical leader. But it also had to be adaptable with changing times. This is why the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” fits perfectly.

One of the most well-known parts of the constitution, this wording is perfect for the Framer’s requirements. It’s ambiguous and severe enough to allow impeachment but not on the grounds of mere stupidity. A president must show malicious intentions to be thrown out of office.

It’s so vague, in fact, that today constitutional scholars still argue about its meaning. And although it may seem simple enough, the fact that a president need not commit a crime to be impeached might be confusing. The successful ejection of a president also requires that articles of impeachment get through both the House and the Senate.

All of this complication was intentional to ensure that tossing a corrupt president wouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s a serious matter when a leader who was elected by the voice of the people must be evicted.

Let’s look at just two of the cases of impeachment-Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon. Each one clearly shows different sides of how this process can go well and how it can be a sham. In the case of Johnson, the US government made the decision to try to oust him just because he was irritating, volatile, and racist, not for breaking the law. He vetoed multiple bills designed to help slaves, and even opposed the 14th Amendment. The House was so mad that they made three attempts to impeach him on questionable grounds. The articles of impeachment for Johnson’s case were rather petty in many ways. They make mention of mean jokes he made about Congress and accused him of involvement in the assassination of Lincoln. One congressman even said they should banish him to outer space. In the end, he was acquitted when the Senate just couldn’t take the claims seriously. After that, government officials didn’t have much faith in impeachment, until Richard Nixon came along. His obvious crimes involved breaking into Watergate, planting listening devices, ordering the CIA to lie to the FBI, firing White House investigators, and others. When it came time to…