Senate Retains The Power To Disqualify Presidents From Running Again
Four Presidents of the United States have been impeached - President Andrew Johnson, President Bill Clinton, President Richard Nixon and President Donald Trump. Three of the four Presidents were acquitted by the Senate, while President Nixon resigned before his trial could get to the Senate (as he surely would have been removed from office by the Senate).
The question is - if a President is impeached, is he disqualified from running for office again?
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The House of Representatives will impeach a President, which means that they are essentially charging the President with misconduct. The Senate will then act as the Jury and vote on whether or not to remove the President from office.
The Senate needs to have a 2/3rds majority in order to vote to remove a President from office. Given the highly polarized nature of the Senate, President Clinton and President Trump, for instance, were acquitted, as there simply weren't enough votes to remove them.
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The Senate can do three things when it comes to an impeachment:
1) They can vote to acquit
2) They can vote to remove the President from office
3) They can vote to remove the President from office AND disqualify them from taking "any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States"
Here is the excerpt from the United States Constitution:
"Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law."
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If a President is acquitted by the Senate, they are essentially found innocent of misconduct. They are allowed to stay in office, and they are also allowed to run again.
President Trump, for instance, was impeached by the House of Representatives during his first term in office, though he was allowed to run for a second term.
In order to be prevented from running for office again, the Senate would have to disqualify the President.
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A sitting President has never been removed from office and disqualified, though President Nixon would have almost certainly been removed and disqualified had he sat through his Senate trial.
There is, however, a history of this happening to other elected officials, including Governors and judges.
Filed under: General Knowledge
