Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, JuneS 17 Page Six THE MiCHIGAN DAiLY Wednesday, June 5, 1974 A guide to impeachment procedure WASHINGTON (A') - The Sen- in the Senate. In four of those ing the impeachment provisions separate proces. it is possible, tee currently is studying sever ate, its 100 members silenced cases, federal judges were con- of the Constitution are neces- therefore, for a person to be proposed impeachment resole by their own rules, would hear victed and ousted. sarily based on the cases ;nvolv- impeached but not convicted, as tions against President Nixo the evidence. Prosecutors sent Only one president has been ing judges, particularly those in Johnson's case. but is sure to draft its termsa over from the House would pre- impeached, Andrew Johnson in which went through to convic- The impeachment process in it recommends impeachment. sent the case. President Nixon 1868, although impeachment ef- tion. the House is roughly compar- When the investigation is con could attend if he wanted, but forts were raised and defeated But this creates problems in able to indictment by a grand pleted the committee must r he probably would not appear. in the House against Presidents applying the precedents to pres- jury in criminal law. Trial in port its decision to the f a 1 That, according to the rules John Tyler and Herbert Hoover. idential impeachment. .n addi- the Senate is comparable to the House. There also may be and the precedents, is how it tion to the impeachment pro- trial of criminal charges in the minority report. An impeact would be if a House majority Johnson was acquitted by the visions the Constitution s a y s courts. voe oipahNxnadsn eae hc eloe v isionsuts.ment report is 'privileged" an voted to impeach Nixon and sent Senate, which fell ose vote federal judges shall hold office goes directly to the House tloo the case to the Senate for trial. short of the two-third, neces sary only "during good behavior," a M P H A C HMENT action for a vote. al u- 0, if m- *e- 1 a :h- id or IMPEACHMENT proceedings have been initiated in taae H.ouse some SO times in American his- tory. Only in 12 cases did the House actually impeazh an of- fice holder and prosecute him for convictionaarm airo office. But his harsh treatment by Congress gave impas neat a bad name that is nav'ng re- percussions to phis day. MOST OF the legal and his- torical precedents for interpret- restriction not applied to pres- idents. Since the only presidential case to go to trial was Jo h n- son's, it provides the only exa-- ples. That case was fraught with partisan spleentand abuses of fair play, and the current Con- gress seems to be trying not to emulate its only predecessor in presidential impeachment. THE CONSTITUTION, House and Senate rules and past prac- tice provide a guile to what would happen in an impeach- ment and trial. Although the term impeach- ment was used historically to cover the entire process of re- moving officeholders, in U S. constitutional practice it mwans strictly the action v) the house in bringing impeachment charg- es against a federal official. The charges are then sent to the Senate for trial, which is a against a president may be in- itiated by a resolution introduc- ed by one or more members of A SIMPLE majority is needed for impeachment. The first Most of the legal and historical precedents for interpreting the impeachment provi- sions of the Constitution are necessarily based on cases involving judges, particular- ly those which went through to conviction. But this creates problems in applying them to presidential impeachment. In addition to the impeachment provisions, the Consti- tution says federal judges shall hold office onlyy 'during good behavior,' a restriction not applied to presidents. the House. The speaker of the Johnson inpeachment recsm- House may then rule the resolu- mendation was voted down by tion out of order, put it direct- the House. A second was ap- ly to a vote as happened in the proved resulting in his trial. Tyler case or refer it to a com- The accused is not present, mittee for investigation. Im- nor is he represented by counsel peachment motions against during the House debate. The Johnson went to both the Judic- debate is public and the galler- iary and Reconstruction commit- ies were packed as Johnson's tees. impeachment was voted. The House Judiciary Commit- See IMPEACHMENT, Page 7 BARBRA STREISAND and OMAR SHARIF IN FUNNY "GIRL Q directed by WILLIAM WYLER Streisand voted BEST ACRTESS for this film. 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