Do you know what impeachment means?

Question

I keep seeing people say that Clinton was impeached, or Reagan was impeached. No president was impeached...even Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. Now, Got It?

I'm so glad to see so many of you rushing to find the definition...cheesehead, don't act like you knew that before you saw my question. You're welcome.

Answer 1

Both Clinton and Andrew Johnson (the Pres after Lincoln) were impeached but survived it. They were both Democrats in a distinctly Republican era.

Impeachment is akin to an indictment. It simply begins the process. It doesn't necessary mean you're guilty. A vote is required for that to happen.

Answer 2

The word "Impeached" (I believe) has changed in the 200+ years since the Constitution was written.

Back then, when a President was "Impeached", it meant that impeachment legislation was introduced & confirmed by the House of Representatives. (The House says "yes, this should happen", but doesn't actually get to make the decision whether or not he is).

The Senate gets to actually hold the trial. In both cases, the Senate did NOT remove the President from office. Both Clinton & Johnson remained President (The Senate basically said "no, we don't agree with the Houses's recommendation, they may stay President").

Today, we think of "Impeachment" as when the President it removed from office (after the Senate removers them) which has NEVER happened. This is just one of many examples of how word definitions have changed over time.

SO, Constitutionally speaking, we've had 2 Presidents impeached, but none removed. In general consideration, no President has ever been "Impeached" (removed).

Answer 3

Two Presidents were impeached. Clinton and Andrew Johnson, who took over from Lincoln. Nixon was close to getting impeached but a vote was never taken as he left office (resigned) before the vote was to take place.

Impeachment is a bill of indictment. Like what a Grand Jury does. It is saying that some one has meet the legal definition of a crime or other matter that allows for a trial to see if they should be removed from office.

No President has even been convicted. Andrew Johnson got off by one vote.

In the Johnson case he fired and replaced a Lincoln cabinet officer with his own choice without FIRST going through congress for "advise and consent."

In the case of Clinton it was said he testimony under oath about next having sex with his intern, when it was later learned they had done sexual things (although not actual sexual intercourse or mating). Clinton was playing with words and the House leadership felt that was a deception and a crime for a President.

Should it come to light that George Bush KNEW in advance that there WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION in Iraq, he would be eligible for indcitment or IMPREACHMENT, but you need hard evidence to show he knew and mislead the Congress and PEople.

The House or Represetnatives by a vote calls for a bill of Impeachment.

The Senate is the jury and votes in a simple majority (half the QUORUM plus 1 vote) one way or the the other. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the presididing judge, I believe. And the House of Representatives picks a prosecutor to argue the case. The President gets to pick their own lawyer to defend it.

The evidence is presented as in any trial and once both sides rests the Sentate votes guilty or not.

Answer 4

SO, are you telling us what impeachment means or are you asking us?

Thechnically, it's when the House of Reps. brings criminal accusations against the presiding President. The Senate then conducts a trial. The President may be found guilty of the crimes or not and may then be removed from Office or not. Reagan was not impeached. Clinton was impeached, but was acquitted of all crimes; he was not removed from Office. Nixon did indeed resign himself before Congress brought any formal charges against him. The only other President in the history of the U.S. to be impeached was Andrew Johnson. He was also acquitted. No President has ever been removed from Office.

Answer 5

Sorry to rain on your parade Ms. Heidi Mighty, but Clinton was impeached. It's about time that you learn what you are talking about. He was impeached, as was Andrew Johnson back in the 1860's. Neither was convicted, so both stayed in office.

Impeachment means to be brought up on charges before the Senate, where the trial is held. Conviction by the Senate would require that the President leave office...

Are we clear on this now?

Au contraire, Ms. Heidi, I did know it, as I was a History major in college and am a history addict. Just about every answer that I give is off the top of my head, with few resources and references... I have done a lot of reading ma'am, and I just answer the questions without reading what anyone else wrote, though I do go back and read some of the answers later, just for kicks. You would be just one of the legions of people who would not want to play Trivial Pursuit with me...

Trivial Pursuit - like answering liberals questions - I made a funny!

Answer 6

Impeachment means brought to trial. So yes, Nixon, and Clinton have been impeached. Here read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeach#United_States. Impeachment is the first of two steps of removing a government official from office.

Answer 7

In the constitutions of several countries, impeachment is the first of two stages in a specific process for a legislative body to remove a government official without that official's agreement.

Impeachment occurs rarely enough for many in a country to misunderstand its nature. A typical misconception is to confuse it with involuntary removal from office; in fact it is only the legal statement of charges, parallelling an indictment in criminal law. An official who is impeached faces a second legislative vote (whether by the same body or another), which determines conviction, or failure to convict, on the charges embodied by the impeachment. Most constitutions require a supermajority to convict.

Answer 8

two presidents:
Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868. Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote in the Senate.
Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998 by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (by a 228–206 vote) and obstruction of justice (by a 221–212 vote). Two other articles of impeachment failed — a second count of perjury in the Jones case (by a 205–229 vote), and one accusing Clinton of abuse of power (by a 148–285 vote). He was acquitted by the Senate.

Answer 9

To make an accusation against.
To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.


Clinton was impeached just not taken out of office for it..

Answer 10

Nine American Presidents to date have had impeachment charges filed against them in the House of Representatives: John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald W. Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and William Clinton. Of these, only two -- William Clinton and Andrew Johnson -- were actually impeached by the House of Representatives. A third President, Richard Nixon, would probably also have lost an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives if he had not resigned. Here is a closer look at the three American Presidents who have come nearest to being impeached and removed from office:

William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, began his term of office on January 20, 1993. On May 6, 1994, a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against President Clinton by Paula Jones, based on an incident alleged to have occurred on May 8, 1991 while Clinton was governor of Arkansas. During the Jones' case, Clinton's lawyer used Monica Lewinsky's false affidavit that denied sexual relationship with Clinton. However, in January 1998, Clinton's affair with Lewinsky was disclosed by Linda Tripp. On January 16, 1998, Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr was appointed to investigate President Clinton's conduct in the Lewinsky matter. On August 17, 1998, before a Grand Jury led by Starr, President Clinton lied under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky. On December 19, 1998, the House of Representative voted to impeach the president with two articles:

* Perjury and false and misleading testimony and statements under oath before the federal grand jury;
* engaging in a course of conduct or scheme to delay and obstruct justice.

The President now faces an impeachment trial in the Senate. (For more information, see Clinton.)

Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, served from January 20, 1969 until his resignation on August 9, 1974. In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment proceedings against him. The reasons for the impeachment recommendation included:

* covering up White House involvement in the Watergate break-in
* abuse of Presidential power
* refusing to comply with Judiciary Committee subpoenas

If President Nixon had not resigned before official impeachment proceedings could begin, it is considered likely that he would have lost an impeachment vote in the House and would have faced an impeachment trial in the Senate. (For more information, see Nixon.)

Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, served from April 15, 1865 to March 3, 1869 and was the first President ever to have been impeached by the House of Representatives. The reasons for his impeachment included:

* removing from office the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, without Senate approval
* criticizing Congress in a loud voice