Presidential Impeachment Trials - Political and Ethical Aspects by: Cynthia Roberts
PRESIDENTIAL
IMPEACHMENT
TRIALS
Political and Ethical Aspects
By: Cynthia Roberts
KAPLAN UNIVERSITY
LS500 Legal Method and Process
Unit 3
Oct 18, 2010
This paper compares and contrasts the political and ethical aspects of the three presidential impeachment trials, Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president of the United States, William J. Clinton, the forty-second, and rather than face impeachment and conviction, President Richard M. Nixon, the thirty-seventh president, resigned.
Legally, the impeachment is not as self-evidently insupportable as it once seemed. Scholars and public officials now generally agree that impeachable offenses need not be indictable crimes.
Former president Bill Clinton is the most recent chief executive whose administration has been associated with a major scandal—and he was impeached as a result of it—but he is not the first president to commit abuses of power or to be implicated in serious wrongdoing while in office. Major scandals have tarnished the executive office over the years, with higher-level government officials attempting to cover up their involvement.
The U.S. Constitution secures the right to impeach the president. Article II, Section 4 discusses the grounds for impeachment, "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 I, Sections 2 and 3 discusses the procedure required to impeach a President: * A formal accusation, or impeachment, by the House of Representatives, * A trial and conviction by the Senate. Impeachment requires a majority vote by the House and a conviction requires a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
THE TRIAL
JOHNSON
The first attempt of Johnson’s impeachment failed (Dec., 1867), but on Feb. 24, 1868, the House passed a resolution of impeachment against Johnson even before it adopted (Mar. 2–3) 11 articles
IMPEACHMENT
TRIALS
Political and Ethical Aspects
By: Cynthia Roberts
KAPLAN UNIVERSITY
LS500 Legal Method and Process
Unit 3
Oct 18, 2010
This paper compares and contrasts the political and ethical aspects of the three presidential impeachment trials, Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president of the United States, William J. Clinton, the forty-second, and rather than face impeachment and conviction, President Richard M. Nixon, the thirty-seventh president, resigned.
Legally, the impeachment is not as self-evidently insupportable as it once seemed. Scholars and public officials now generally agree that impeachable offenses need not be indictable crimes.
Former president Bill Clinton is the most recent chief executive whose administration has been associated with a major scandal—and he was impeached as a result of it—but he is not the first president to commit abuses of power or to be implicated in serious wrongdoing while in office. Major scandals have tarnished the executive office over the years, with higher-level government officials attempting to cover up their involvement.
The U.S. Constitution secures the right to impeach the president. Article II, Section 4 discusses the grounds for impeachment, "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 I, Sections 2 and 3 discusses the procedure required to impeach a President: * A formal accusation, or impeachment, by the House of Representatives, * A trial and conviction by the Senate. Impeachment requires a majority vote by the House and a conviction requires a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
THE TRIAL
JOHNSON
The first attempt of Johnson’s impeachment failed (Dec., 1867), but on Feb. 24, 1868, the House passed a resolution of impeachment against Johnson even before it adopted (Mar. 2–3) 11 articles
Cited: "Presidential Impeachment Proceedings." The History Place. (2000). Retrieved Oct 31, 2010, from historyplace.com: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/johnson.htm Brunner, B Heuvel, K. v. (2007, Jul 26). Josh-Marshall-Impeachment. Retrieved Oct 25, 2010, from The Nation.com: http://www.thenation.com/blog/josh-marshall-impeachment Hirsch Esq, A Linder, D. O. (2005). The Impeachment Trial of President William Clinton. Retrieved Oct 27, 2010, from Law.UMKC.edu: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/clinton/clintontrialaccount.html Starr Thomas, E. (1999, Feb 22). "The inside story of Clinton 's acquittal.". Retrieved Oct 30, 2010, from highbeam.com: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53937729.html Vincent, A.-M Yaffee, R. A. (1999, Jul 30). Presidential Scandals and Job Approval. Retrieved Oct 25, 2010, from nyu.edu: http://www.nyu.edu/its/statistics/Docs/scandals.html Nice job with this paper [ 1 ]. Benedict, Michael Las. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1973. [ 4 ]. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/impeach.html (Brunner, 2000-2007) [ 5 ] [ 10 ]. Black, Charles L., Jr. Impeachment: A Handbook. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974. [ 17 ]. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/clinton/clintontrialaccount.html (Linder, 2005) [ 18 ] [ 35 ]. http://www.thenation.com/blog/josh-marshall-impeachment [ (Heuvel, 2007) ]