The House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach a federal official, and that is the House’s role in impeachment: it investigates alleged misconduct, drafts formal charges called articles of impeachment, votes on whether to approve them, and — if it does — sends the case to the Senate for trial. Impeachment by the House is an accusation, not a removal. Think of the House as the grand jury and the Senate as the courtroom.
Where the House Gets This Power
Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the House “the sole Power of Impeachment.”1Constitution Annotated. Article I Section 2 No other body — not the Senate, not a court, not the executive branch — can bring these charges. Article I, Section 3 then hands the trial to the Senate, which needs a two-thirds vote of members present to convict.2Constitution Annotated. Article I Section 3
Article II, Section 4 sets out who can be impeached and for what. The president, vice president, and all civil officers of the United States can be removed on impeachment and conviction for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”3Constitution Annotated. Article II Section 4 In practice, “civil officers” has included federal judges, cabinet secretaries, and a senator. Judges account for the large majority of the House’s impeachments.
How an Impeachment Starts in the House
Any House member can start the process by introducing a resolution. Where that resolution lands depends on what it asks for. A resolution that directly calls for impeachment goes to the Judiciary Committee. A resolution that only calls for an investigation into whether impeachment is warranted goes to the Rules Committee.4GovInfo. House Practice – A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures of the House
A full House vote is not required to get an investigation going. Committees can open impeachment inquiries under their general investigative authority without a formal authorizing resolution. Over the last 75 years, the House has approved articles of impeachment eight times, and in half of those cases no authorizing resolution was ever adopted.5Congress.gov. The Impeachment Process in the House of Representatives The Speaker can also announce an inquiry on their own, as Speaker Pelosi did in 2019 before the House voted on a resolution regarding President Trump.
The Investigation
Once an inquiry is underway, the Judiciary Committee (or a specially formed committee) digs into the allegations. Committees can hold hearings, take staff depositions, and use subpoenas to compel witnesses and documents.6EveryCRSReport.com. Congressional Access to Information in an Impeachment Investigation
An impeachment inquiry can give a committee legal leverage that ordinary oversight does not. Courts have recognized at least three areas where the impeachment power strengthens the committee’s hand: accessing grand jury materials that would normally stay sealed, overcoming arguments that a committee lacks a “legislative purpose,” and pushing past executive privilege claims that might otherwise block access to White House documents and communications.6EveryCRSReport.com. Congressional Access to Information in an Impeachment Investigation
What Conduct Qualifies
The Constitution does not define “high crimes and misdemeanors,” and the House has broad discretion in applying it. The phrase does not require a violation of criminal law. At the Constitutional Convention, the framers first proposed “maladministration” as a ground for impeachment, but James Madison objected that the term was too vague. The delegates replaced it with “high crimes and misdemeanors” to limit impeachment to conduct that seriously harms the public or compromises an official’s ability to serve.3Constitution Annotated. Article II Section 4
In practice, the House has treated the phrase as covering abuse of power, violation of public trust, and conduct that degrades the office, even when no criminal statute was broken. Charges have ranged from a judge issuing rulings contrary to law and appearing on the bench intoxicated to modern articles alleging obstruction of Congress and incitement of insurrection. The category is broader than criminal law but narrower than mere incompetence or policy disagreement.
Drafting and Voting on Articles of Impeachment
If the investigation produces enough evidence, the committee drafts articles of impeachment. Each article is a separate formal charge. A single impeachment can involve one article or several: President Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 involved two articles, and his second in 2021 involved one.7Office of the Historian. List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives
The committee votes on the articles, and if approved they go to the full House for debate and a final vote. Each article is voted on separately, and only a simple majority of members present is needed to approve it.4GovInfo. House Practice – A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures of the House If even one article passes, the official is impeached. That word gets misused constantly. Impeachment by itself does not remove anyone from office; it is the equivalent of an indictment.
Appointing Managers to Prosecute in the Senate
After voting to impeach, the House selects some of its own members to serve as impeachment managers. Managers act as the prosecutors in the Senate trial: they present the evidence, question witnesses, and argue for conviction. The House names them by adopting a resolution.8Congress.gov. H.Res.798 – 116th Congress – Appointing and Authorizing Managers for the Impeachment Trial
There is no fixed number. President Trump’s first impeachment trial had seven managers; his second had nine. The Speaker has significant influence over who is chosen, and the picks typically balance legal skill with the ability to communicate persuasively to senators and to the public.
Where the House’s Role Ends
The House cannot remove anyone. Once the articles are delivered to the Senate, the House’s part is essentially finished except for the managers presenting the case. Trial, verdict, removal, and any vote to disqualify the official from future federal office all belong to the Senate.9U.S. Senate. About Impeachment If the Senate acquits, the official stays in office and faces no formal penalty from the impeachment itself. Three presidents have been impeached by the House — Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump (twice) — and none was convicted by the Senate.7Office of the Historian. List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives