The impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution is the mechanism for removing a sitting president, vice president, or other civil officer of the United States before their term ends. It is not a single paragraph. The power is split across Articles I and II: the House of Representatives brings the charges by simple majority, the Senate tries the case, and conviction requires a two-thirds vote of senators present. The only grounds the Constitution names are treason, bribery, and “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article II Section 4
Where the Clause Lives in the Constitution
The substantive rule is Article II, Section 4: the president, vice president, and all civil officers “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article II Section 4 That one sentence identifies who is covered, what conduct qualifies, and what happens after conviction.
The procedural pieces sit in Article I. Section 2, Clause 5 gives the House “the sole Power of Impeachment.”2Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 2 Clause 5 Section 3, Clause 6 gives the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments,” requires a special oath from senators, directs the Chief Justice to preside at a presidential trial, and sets conviction at two-thirds of members present.3Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 3 Clause 6 Clause 7 caps the punishment at removal and disqualification and preserves ordinary criminal liability for the same conduct.4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 3
The division is deliberate. No single body can both charge and convict.
Who Can Be Impeached
Article II, Section 4 reaches the president, the vice president, and “all civil Officers of the United States.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article II Section 4 In practice, that includes cabinet secretaries and all federal judges appointed under Article III. Judges serve “during good behavior,” which effectively means for life, so impeachment is the only involuntary way to remove them.5United States Courts. Judges and Judicial Administration – Journalist’s Guide
Two categories fall outside the clause. Members of Congress are disciplined under Article I, Section 5, which lets each chamber punish its members and, with a two-thirds vote, expel them.6U.S. Senate. About Expulsion Military personnel answer to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and its court-martial system instead.7Congressional Research Service. Unrest at the Capitol: Potential Violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
What Counts as an Impeachable Offense
Three categories are listed: treason, bribery, and “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article II Section 4 The first two are narrow. Article III defines treason as levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies.8Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article III Bribery is trading official action for something of value.
“High Crimes and Misdemeanors” carries most of the weight, and it is deliberately open-ended. It does not require a violation of any federal criminal statute. The Constitution Annotated describes impeachment as a “political process” whose contours have been shaped by two centuries of congressional practice rather than by court rulings. In that practice, Congress has used the clause against abuse of official power, conduct fundamentally incompatible with the office, and personal enrichment through the office. Judge Harry Claiborne was convicted in 1986 for filing false income tax returns; Judge Thomas Porteous was removed in 2010 for a corrupt relationship in which he took things of value in exchange for using his influence with state judges.9Constitution Annotated. Overview of Impeachable Offenses Neither case turned on whether a prosecutor could have won a conventional criminal conviction for the same conduct.
How the House Brings Charges
An impeachment moves through the House in stages. The full House passes a resolution authorizing an investigation, usually by the Judiciary Committee, and may grant subpoena power. The committee investigates, holds hearings, and if it finds grounds, drafts specific articles of impeachment. The full House then debates and votes on each article.10Congressional Research Service. The Impeachment Process in the House of Representatives
Each article states a distinct allegation, similar to a count in a criminal indictment. Passage of an article requires only a simple majority.11U.S. Senate. About Impeachment If any article passes, the official has been “impeached.” That word is often misunderstood. Impeachment is the accusation, not the conviction. An impeached official stays in office unless the Senate votes to remove them.
How the Senate Tries the Case
After the House impeaches, it appoints “managers” from among its members to present the case in the Senate. They function as prosecutors, reading the articles on the Senate floor and arguing for conviction.12Congressional Research Service. The Impeachment Process in the Senate The accused official has the right to mount a defense, call witnesses, and present evidence.
Before the trial begins, every senator takes a special oath beyond the standard oath of office, swearing or affirming to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.” The practice dates back to the first impeachment proceedings in 1798 and has remained essentially unchanged.13Constitution Annotated. Oath or Affirmation Requirement in Impeachment Trials
When the president is on trial, the Chief Justice of the United States presides instead of the vice president, who normally leads the Senate.14Constitution Annotated. ArtI.S3.C6.2 Historical Background on Impeachment Trials The vice president has a direct personal stake in removing the president, so the Constitution routes around that conflict. For every other impeachment, the Senate’s normal presiding officer runs the trial.
Conviction requires two-thirds of the senators present. The Constitution Annotated notes that this threshold keeps removal from being “a strictly partisan affair” by limiting it “to situations where consensus is possible.”14Constitution Annotated. ArtI.S3.C6.2 Historical Background on Impeachment Trials Fall short of two-thirds and the official is acquitted, with no further consequence from the proceeding.
What Conviction Does, and Doesn’t Do
Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 caps the punishment at two things: removal from office and disqualification from holding any future federal office of “honor, Trust or Profit.”4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 3 No prison, no fine, no other penalty.
Removal happens automatically on conviction. Disqualification from future office is separate. The Senate treats the two as divisible and holds a second vote specifically on disqualification, which requires only a simple majority.15Justia. Judgment – Removal and Disqualification The Senate has imposed disqualification only three times.
Losing the office does not close out criminal exposure. The same clause preserves ordinary prosecution: a convicted official “shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 3
The president cannot pardon the process away. Article II, Section 2 gives the president broad clemency authority but carves out “Cases of Impeachment.” The Supreme Court confirmed in Ex parte Garland that while the pardon power is otherwise unlimited, this exception is absolute.16Legal Information Institute. Overview of Pardon Power A president cannot pardon someone out of an impeachment or a Senate trial, and cannot undo a conviction that way.
Can Courts Review a Senate Verdict?
No. In Nixon v. United States (1993), the Supreme Court held that challenges to Senate impeachment trial procedures are nonjusticiable. The Court pointed to the word “sole” in the Constitution’s grant of trial power and read it as signaling “total authority” over how the trial is run. It also noted that impeachment is the legislature’s only check on judicial power, so letting judges review their own removal process would create an obvious conflict of interest.17Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Nixon v. United States Once the Senate votes, the matter is settled.
Impeachment After the Official Has Left Office
The Senate addressed this in 1876. Secretary of War William Belknap resigned hours before the House voted to impeach him. After weeks of debate over its own jurisdiction, the Senate voted 37 to 29 that Belknap was “amenable to trial by impeachment for acts done as Secretary of War, notwithstanding his resignation.”18Congressional Research Service. The Impeachment and Trial of a Former President
The precedent resurfaced in 2021, when the Senate proceeded with the second Trump impeachment trial after he had already left office. He was acquitted. The Congressional Research Service has noted that where Congress has declined to continue proceedings after a resignation, those choices were generally “prudential judgments about the efficacy of continuing proceedings rather than constitutional determinations” that Congress lacked the power to act.18Congressional Research Service. The Impeachment and Trial of a Former President The practical point of trying a former official is disqualification, since removal is moot.
What the Historical Record Shows
The House has impeached 22 federal officials since 1789. Most have been federal judges. Three presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021. All three were acquitted. No president has ever been removed through the impeachment process. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the full House voted on articles against him.19Office of the Historian. List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives
Of those 22 impeachments, the Senate convicted and removed eight officials, all federal judges. Three of the eight were also disqualified from future office. Nine officials were acquitted outright, and the rest ended through resignation before trial or dismissal of the charges.19Office of the Historian. List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives The two-thirds threshold is the reason the numbers look this way. Getting 67 senators to agree is genuinely difficult, especially when the accused shares a party with a large Senate bloc, and that difficulty is what the Framers built in.