The Impeachment Process
Overview of the House and Senate Roles
Removal of the President, Vice President, and Federal civilofficers by impeachment has been placed, by constitutional mandate,in the hands of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government.Although rooted in the soil of English impeachment experience,the American impeachment system differs from its English forebearin some significant respects.Unlike the British system, which permitted penal sanctionsto attach upon conviction of impeachment, the American systemis designed to be remedial in function. Despite surface similaritiesto a criminal trial, the judgments that may be rendered upon convictionof an article of impeachment in the American system are limitedto removal from office and disqualification from holding furtheroffices of…
