Question

Why do you think the Founders divided the process into two steps (impeachment and conviction)?

Answer 1

The need for the ultimate check, and in particular the removal of the President, in a system of checks and balances was brought up early at the 1787 convention in Philadelphia. Constitutional heavyweights such as James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris debated the Impeachment Clause at the convention, and Alexander Hamilton argued for it in The Federalist after the convention.

Today, impeachment remains as a rarely used process to potentially remove the “President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States” if Congress finds them guilty of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Answer 2

The impeachment process is described in Article I of the United States Constitution. Impeachment is the process by which senior political officials of the government can be removed from office, for reasons of treason, bribery or serious misconduct in the exercise of their functions.

The first step in this process is carried out by the House of Representatives, which is in charge of determining the origin of the impeachment, assessing the grounds and evidence that allow or not to prosecute the politician in question through a simple majority vote. Then, the Senate is in charge of the trial itself, determining the guilt or not of the official.

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