Presidential Impeachment Trials
Presidential Impeachment Trials
Mandy White
Legal Methods and Process
LS 500-01
June 5, 2012
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the impeachment trials of President
Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton and identify any ethical dilemmas associated with each individual case and whether or not criminal chargers were appropriate or not. Before delving into the trials here is a brief description of what impeachment is and how the process works. “Technically speaking, impeachment is the Senate’s quasi-criminal proceeding instituted to remove a public officer, not the actual act of removal. Most references to impeachment, however, encompass the entire process, beginning with the House’s impeachment inquiry”
(Henchey, 1999, para. 3). “The Constitution’s framers included impeachment as a method of removing officeholders who corrupted the government, endangered the constitutional order, or failed to uphold the Constitution in some deeply fundamental way” (Finkelman, 1999, p. 18).
However, technically speaking a government official could commit a crime and not be subject to impeachment on the other hand an actual crime does not have to be committed in order to be impeached. The Constitution stated two offenses that were mandated as impeachable offenses: treason and bribery. “Both ‘sell out’ the nation: They are not ordinary crimes but go directly to the functions of the government itself and to the nation’s fundamental security” (Finkelman,
1999, p. 18). Ethical dilemmas surrounding impeachment trials of United States Presidents. After researching the actions of President Andrew Johnson which led to his impeachment trial I found ethical dilemmas not only within the scope of his actions but also within the scope of the charges or lack of charges brought against him at the impeachment hearing. According to history,
Johnson’s actions were impeachable
Mandy White
Legal Methods and Process
LS 500-01
June 5, 2012
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the impeachment trials of President
Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton and identify any ethical dilemmas associated with each individual case and whether or not criminal chargers were appropriate or not. Before delving into the trials here is a brief description of what impeachment is and how the process works. “Technically speaking, impeachment is the Senate’s quasi-criminal proceeding instituted to remove a public officer, not the actual act of removal. Most references to impeachment, however, encompass the entire process, beginning with the House’s impeachment inquiry”
(Henchey, 1999, para. 3). “The Constitution’s framers included impeachment as a method of removing officeholders who corrupted the government, endangered the constitutional order, or failed to uphold the Constitution in some deeply fundamental way” (Finkelman, 1999, p. 18).
However, technically speaking a government official could commit a crime and not be subject to impeachment on the other hand an actual crime does not have to be committed in order to be impeached. The Constitution stated two offenses that were mandated as impeachable offenses: treason and bribery. “Both ‘sell out’ the nation: They are not ordinary crimes but go directly to the functions of the government itself and to the nation’s fundamental security” (Finkelman,
1999, p. 18). Ethical dilemmas surrounding impeachment trials of United States Presidents. After researching the actions of President Andrew Johnson which led to his impeachment trial I found ethical dilemmas not only within the scope of his actions but also within the scope of the charges or lack of charges brought against him at the impeachment hearing. According to history,
Johnson’s actions were impeachable
References: Finkelman, P. (1999). The trials of presidential impeachment. Retrieved from http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/insights_law_society/update231.authcheckdam.pdf Henchey, B. (1999, January 5). Lii backgrounder on impeachment. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/background/impeach/impeach.htm