A note: If you truly care to learn a (very) basic lesson in the 3 branches of government and impeachment, you may want to read the two previous posts
As noted above, this is the third in a series. I have noticed a lot of people that think Trump has been convicted of something or is now being put out of office. Here is a basic explanation of where we are now in this great journey curated by the Democrat party.
President Trump has been impeached. I think the confusion comes from a lot of people not knowing what that actually means. Impeachment essentially means that the President (or any other government employee that is subject to impeachment) has had charges drawn up against him. In very simplistic terms the House of Representatives has acted as a grand jury or government attorney's office and determined that a case can (and should be made it the House votes to make the impeachment formal) be made: essentially an indictment.
The Constitution left the grounds for impeachment vague. There are many comments about what the grounds can be in various writings from the founders, but the Constitution just says:
"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"
(Article II, Section 4)
I published and commented on the actual charges brought up by the House of Representatives, but as a reminder here they are:
1) Abuse of Power of the President
2) Obstruction of Congress
(much more details are in that post if you are so inclined)
As I mentioned in the last post the Constitution did give sole power of Federal impeachment to the House of Representative. The rules of how the impeachment is to be carried out is left up to the House itself. There have been three other impeachments of Presidents and seventeen other officials, mostly Federal judges. There have been impeachment proceedings taken up a total of sixty-two times to arrive at these twenty actual impeachments. There were rules drawn up each time and historically each has built upon the other. This time the Democrats ignored a lot of the rules from previous proceedings as far as what it did and did not allow the minority party (in this case the Republicans) to do in having meaningful participation as far as calling witnesses or in the process. Again, legally and traditionally the majority party has the power to set the rules of how things run, including impeachment, so I take no offense at that. The partisanship however, in my opinion, greatly weakened the entire process and tainted the results greatly. As an aside, I find it absolutely hilarious that now the House Democrats are screaming about how the Senate needs to be "fair". No matter how you see/saw the House impeachment proceedings I cannot remotely understand how any honest person can call them "fair". They were as one-sided as they could be with private questioning of the "witnesses", daily leaks by the Democrat leadership of these "secret" hearings, and when they did go public - and a witness list totally controlled by the Democrats. I will say again, this is all totally legal and within the rights of the majority party and the House rules - but that does not make it fair.
But I digressed a bit from my intent. What does impeachment mean and what happens next.
As I mentioned, basically what has happened to this point (the actual "impeachment") is an indictment (drawing up of charges) against the President. Now the House of Representatives has one other duty. They formally "announce" to the Senate that these charges have been formally drawn up, voted on, and approved by the House. The House (typically the Speaker of the House) appoints impeachment "Managers". The Senate sets up as a court. The managers will formally present the charges and answer questions on them to the Senate in full session. Since this is an impeachment proceeding against the President of the United States, the "judge" presiding over the "court" is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Just like in a court, the prosecution (in this case the House represented by the "managers") makes their case by making presentations and questioning witnesses. The defense is mounted by representatives of the accused and/or the accused themselves. This can be lawyers or other appointees of the charged. The Senate body is the "jury". They hear the arguments, witness examinations and questioning, and then typically go into closed session and debate the results among themselves.
This is when the impeached is either acquitted or convicted. If acquitted, this case of impeachment is ended and the accused goes back to work. If convicted, it is ended as well, but with the accused being asked to vacate their office. The normal rules of succession follow with the Vice President becoming President.
As noted above, this is the third in a series. I have noticed a lot of people that think Trump has been convicted of something or is now being put out of office. Here is a basic explanation of where we are now in this great journey curated by the Democrat party.
President Trump has been impeached. I think the confusion comes from a lot of people not knowing what that actually means. Impeachment essentially means that the President (or any other government employee that is subject to impeachment) has had charges drawn up against him. In very simplistic terms the House of Representatives has acted as a grand jury or government attorney's office and determined that a case can (and should be made it the House votes to make the impeachment formal) be made: essentially an indictment.
The Constitution left the grounds for impeachment vague. There are many comments about what the grounds can be in various writings from the founders, but the Constitution just says:
"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"
(Article II, Section 4)
I published and commented on the actual charges brought up by the House of Representatives, but as a reminder here they are:
1) Abuse of Power of the President
2) Obstruction of Congress
(much more details are in that post if you are so inclined)
As I mentioned in the last post the Constitution did give sole power of Federal impeachment to the House of Representative. The rules of how the impeachment is to be carried out is left up to the House itself. There have been three other impeachments of Presidents and seventeen other officials, mostly Federal judges. There have been impeachment proceedings taken up a total of sixty-two times to arrive at these twenty actual impeachments. There were rules drawn up each time and historically each has built upon the other. This time the Democrats ignored a lot of the rules from previous proceedings as far as what it did and did not allow the minority party (in this case the Republicans) to do in having meaningful participation as far as calling witnesses or in the process. Again, legally and traditionally the majority party has the power to set the rules of how things run, including impeachment, so I take no offense at that. The partisanship however, in my opinion, greatly weakened the entire process and tainted the results greatly. As an aside, I find it absolutely hilarious that now the House Democrats are screaming about how the Senate needs to be "fair". No matter how you see/saw the House impeachment proceedings I cannot remotely understand how any honest person can call them "fair". They were as one-sided as they could be with private questioning of the "witnesses", daily leaks by the Democrat leadership of these "secret" hearings, and when they did go public - and a witness list totally controlled by the Democrats. I will say again, this is all totally legal and within the rights of the majority party and the House rules - but that does not make it fair.
But I digressed a bit from my intent. What does impeachment mean and what happens next.
As I mentioned, basically what has happened to this point (the actual "impeachment") is an indictment (drawing up of charges) against the President. Now the House of Representatives has one other duty. They formally "announce" to the Senate that these charges have been formally drawn up, voted on, and approved by the House. The House (typically the Speaker of the House) appoints impeachment "Managers". The Senate sets up as a court. The managers will formally present the charges and answer questions on them to the Senate in full session. Since this is an impeachment proceeding against the President of the United States, the "judge" presiding over the "court" is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Just like in a court, the prosecution (in this case the House represented by the "managers") makes their case by making presentations and questioning witnesses. The defense is mounted by representatives of the accused and/or the accused themselves. This can be lawyers or other appointees of the charged. The Senate body is the "jury". They hear the arguments, witness examinations and questioning, and then typically go into closed session and debate the results among themselves.
This is when the impeached is either acquitted or convicted. If acquitted, this case of impeachment is ended and the accused goes back to work. If convicted, it is ended as well, but with the accused being asked to vacate their office. The normal rules of succession follow with the Vice President becoming President.
Comments