Impeaching a president is a rare and serious event in American politics. Only three presidents in U.S. history have been impeached by the House of Representatives – Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019. None have ever been convicted and removed from office by the Senate.
The impeachment process is outlined in Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which states: “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.”
So how does the impeachment process work and how many votes are needed in the House of Representatives to impeach a president?
What is Impeachment?
Impeachment is the process by which charges or accusations of serious wrongdoing are brought against a civil officer of the government, in this case the President of the United States. It is essentially an indictment or formal accusation of wrongdoing.
The U.S. Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to impeach federal officials. This includes the president, vice president, federal judges, and other civil officers. Once an official has been impeached by the House, the case then moves to the Senate for trial.
The Two-Step Impeachment Process
Impeachment involves two basic steps:
1. The House of Representatives investigates allegations of wrongdoing against the president and votes on impeachment. A simple majority is needed to approve articles of impeachment.
2. If the House approves impeachment articles, the case goes to the Senate for trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the Senate to convict and remove the president from office.
So impeachment happens in the House, but conviction and removal can only happen in the Senate trial phase.
What Does it Take to Impeach a President in the House?
Impeaching a president is no simple task. It’s meant to be a difficult, deliberative, and multipartisan process to remove a president from office before their term is up. Here are some key facts about what it takes:
– 218 votes – A simple majority of votes in the 435-member House of Representatives is needed to impeach the president. This equates to 218 votes if all members are voting.
– Articles of Impeachment – The House must approve at least one article of impeachment outlining the specific charges against the president. In the past, presidents have faced multiple articles accusing them of different offenses.
– Investigation – Impeachment proceedings usually begin with various House committees investigating accusations of wrongdoing by the president. Evidence is gathered and testimony is heard before articles are voted on.
– House Judiciary Committee – This committee typically drafts the articles of impeachment against the president which are then approved by the full House.
– Floor Vote – The entire House of Representatives votes on each article of impeachment after debate. Only a simple majority vote is required to impeach.
– Partisan Divide – Historically, votes to impeach a president have largely fallen along party lines, with a majority of the president’s own party voting not to impeach.
Examples from History
Only two U.S. presidents have been impeached by the House – Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Here’s how the votes broke down:
– President Andrew Johnson – The House approved 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson by a vote of 126-47. All the votes in favor came from Republicans, Johnson’s opposing party.
– President Bill Clinton – The House passed 2 of 4 articles of impeachment against Clinton – for perjury and obstruction of justice – by votes of 228-206 and 221-212. The vast majority of Democrats voted against impeachment, while most Republicans voted in favor.
This illustrates how impeachment is rarely bipartisan and often follows party lines. Presidents can usually avoid impeachment as long as their own party controls the House.
The Role of the House Majority Party
The majority party in the House at the time plays an incredibly influential role in the impeachment process. Here are some of their powers:
– They control which committees investigate the president and what the scope of those investigations are.
– The Speaker of the House, who comes from the majority party, decides whether and when to hold votes on impeachment articles.
– Lawmakers from the president’s party can be pressured or encouraged by their leadership to vote against impeachment. Voting against your party on impeachment can have consequences.
– With a majority, the president’s party can vote down articles of impeachment or hold them indefinitely without a vote.
So in effect, impeachment is unlikely to advance unless the president’s own party approves it. And that almost never happens – which explains why only two presidents have been impeached despite many others facing accusations.
Recent Examples
Looking at recent impeachment efforts illustrates the power of House majority control:
– President Nixon – While the House began formally investigating Nixon for the Watergate scandal, he resigned before the full House could vote on impeachment articles. But since Democrats held the House majority, those articles likely would have passed.
– President Reagan – A Democrat-controlled House formally investigated the Iran-Contra scandal in Reagan’s second term. But the articles of impeachment never made it to a floor vote, in part because enough Democrats likely would have voted against their own party’s efforts.
– President Trump – With Democrats controlling the House after the 2018 midterms, Trump was impeached in December 2019 on two articles related to Ukraine. House Republicans unanimously voted against the articles.
So in effect, the House majority party serves as a “firewall” protecting the president of their same party from impeachment. Removing a president requires the opposing party to take control of the House.
Conviction and Removal
Even if the House impeaches the president, conviction and removal requires a high hurdle in the Senate – a two-thirds supermajority vote. With 100 Senators, 67 votes are needed to convict and remove a president. Given how presidents usually enjoy strong loyalty within their own parties, getting to 67 votes is an extremely difficult task.
It’s never happened in U.S. history. Andrew Johnson survived his Senate trial by just one vote. Bill Clinton also easily survived since not even a simple majority voted to convict him.
In effect, the two-thirds requirement gives a “veto” to 34 Senators from the president’s party. Even if some members of the president’s party break ranks in the House, just 34 loyal Senators can prevent removal from office after impeachment.
This high bar provides a powerful check on partisan impeachment efforts. Even if the House can pass articles on a straight party-line vote, bipartisan support is effectively required in the Senate to actually remove a president from office.
Conclusion
Impeaching and removing a president is intentionally difficult and requires broad, bipartisan consensus that a president is unfit to serve. While only a simple House majority is required to impeach, conviction and removal demands a two-thirds vote in the Senate – essentially giving a veto to 34 senators from the president’s own party.
Historically, presidents have only been at serious risk when the opposing party controls the House and can advance impeachment articles without members of the president’s party blocking the effort. But loyalty within the president’s own party then prevents conviction in the Senate.
In the entire history of the United States, no president has ever actually been removed through impeachment. Given the partisan divides inherent in the process, it’s unlikely to ever happen unless both houses of Congress achieve broad agreement that a president’s offenses require such an extraordinary measure.
