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The Importance Of Presidential Impeachment

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Since 1787, the impeachment process has proven effective in ensuring that the president acts in the best interest of the country. The Founding Fathers based the impeachment process off of the British process to hold those in power accountable for their actions and allow one branch to act as the prosecutor, while the other acts as the trier. Overtime in the United States, impeachments were issued due to the president engaging unconstitutionally in office, acting with improper behavior, and using the office for personal gain. The purpose of impeachment is to protect the American people from the president exploiting his powers. The presidential impeachment process is sound because it was created by the founders to control the powers of the president, …show more content…

Before deciding on the legislative branch, Madison pushed for the federal courts to be the triers. Madison believed impeachment in the senate made the president dependent on the legislative branch when it should be independent (U.S. Senate). However, compared to Madison, Hamilton believed the judicial branch was too small to hold such an important trial. In addition, allowing the Supreme Court to oversee impeachment would skew the process because some of the justices could have been appointed by the sitting President. If they were appointed by the sitting president, they would most likely favor the president which would negatively impact the process. In the Federalist papers, Hamilton advocated for the senate to act as the “trier” for impeachment (Levinson). Although critics argue that this gives the senate too much power in the process, the senate merely reacts to the houses actions of imposing Articles of Impeachments. Allowing the legislative branches to oversee the impeachment process, gives them the power to check and balance the power of the president by elected officials. With the influence of Jefferson, each branch participates in the impeachment process (Bailey). Therefore, to balance the power of all three branches during the process, the Chief Justice oversees the trial in the …show more content…

The purpose of the presidential impeachment process is to protect the potential abuse of executive power, hold those with authority accountable for their actions, and voice the concerns of the public. This process is effective because it allows for each branch to check the president and ensure that he is not abusing his power (Turley 35). The house of representatives has the power to impeach, whereas the senate is the court of impeachment trials (Broderick 555). The house and senate both have an impact on the overall outcome of the process because the house can impose Articles of Impeachment that a majority of house members seem fit and the senate can decide whether the president should be impeached or not. The process takes into consideration the opinions of the public because the members of the house were put into office by voters and represent their constituents. When the senate votes in an open session on the verdict, they need a 2/3 supermajority vote needed for the conviction (U.S. Senate). The supermajority vote prevents partisan voting because it checks the senate to assure it is in support of the public good, not just the simple majority. The impeachment process guarantees that both the house of representatives and the senate have an influential role and are needed to approve impeachment. Needing both houses to approve the impeachment is a positive aspect of the process

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Rhetorical Analysis: in Barbara Jordan’s “Statement on the Articles of Impeachment” In 1976, the first African American Congresswoman took the podium to address the political problems in the U.S. She used every form of document in the constitution to prove that things can change if they were followed accordingly. This courageous woman, Barbara Jordan, wrote “Statements on the Articles of Impeachment”, delivered July 25, 1974 to the House Judiciary Committee and argued that if the President was to participate in anything suspicious and kept the person safe, he may be impeached. Jordan builds her credibility with the evidence of Richard Nixon’s activity with several things beyond out of order; during her speech she was forcefully optimistic

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In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton lays out his vision for the Supreme Court of the United States. In this essay, Hamilton explains that the court should function as a “bulwark against majoritarian excesses” (O’Brien 181). His intension was for the court to protect the rights of the minority of the people against the tyranny of the majority. Hamilton makes the assurance that the court will use separation of powers as a “check” on Congress in order to protect against popular will (O’Brien 22). To accomplish this, the court had to function as an independent body in order to “safeguard” against the will of the majority and “occasional ill humors in the society” (O’Brien 349).

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