49 Fun Facts About Impeachment

Which Founding Father wrote Federalist 65, arguing that the Senate should try impeachments?

Alexander Hamilton called the Supreme Court an improper substitute and described impeachable offenses as abuses 'of some public trust'.

Which Texas congresswoman declared 'My faith in the Constitution is whole' at the 1974 Nixon impeachment hearings?

Barbara Jordan said the 1787 Constitution's 'We, the people' had left her out, but amendment, interpretation and court decision had finally included her.

The Constitution limits impeachable offences to treason, bribery and what else?

High crimes and misdemeanors was George Mason's proposal, a phrase borrowed from British practice, after vaguer wording like 'maladministration' was floated.

Which presidential power does the Constitution explicitly withhold in impeachment cases?

The pardon cannot touch an impeachment, while a removed official can still be indicted and tried under ordinary law.

Which House Speaker stepped down after Republicans lost seats in the 1998 midterms, weeks before Bill Clinton's impeachment?

Newt Gingrich had once forced Speaker Jim Wright to resign by pressing ethics charges over Wright's financial dealings.

Whose 1797 impeachment ended with the Senate dismissing the charges for want of jurisdiction?

William Blount had plotted to help Britain seize Spanish-controlled territory, and the Senate expelled him before his trial.

Who was the first US official ever convicted and removed by the Senate, in 1804?

John Pickering was removed on charges of drunkenness on the bench and unlawful rulings in a property case.

Who is the only Supreme Court justice ever impeached?

Samuel Chase was acquitted in 1805, a verdict that helped protect the judiciary from removals driven by disapproval of rulings.

Which law was Andrew Johnson accused of violating when he fired Edwin Stanton?

The Tenure of Office Act was repealed in 1887, and in 1926 the Supreme Court signalled that such a law was unconstitutional.

Which Pennsylvania Radical Republican was one of the House managers at Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial?

Thaddeus Stevens was one of seven House managers, but the Senate fell one vote short of convicting Johnson, and Stevens died that August.

Which president's own Whig party expelled him and then tried to impeach him?

All but one of John Tyler's cabinet resigned after he vetoed bills to create a national bank.

Which Kansas senator's vote to acquit Andrew Johnson helped leave the Senate one vote short of conviction?

Edmund G. Ross was one of the Republicans who defied their party to acquit Johnson, and he failed to win reelection in 1871.

Which Grant cabinet member was impeached in 1876 hours after resigning?

William Belknap was accused of taking kickbacks for appointing a trader to run the lucrative military trading post at Fort Sill.

Whose firing as Watergate special prosecutor in October 1973 became known as the 'Saturday Night Massacre'?

Archibald Cox was fired for refusing to stop demanding Nixon's tapes, and top Justice Department officials resigned in protest.

What was the recording Nixon made public in August 1974 nicknamed?

The smoking gun tape caught Nixon approving a plan to have the CIA block the FBI's Watergate inquiry, and he resigned days after its release.

Who introduced the first resolution calling for Nixon's impeachment, in July 1973?

Robert Drinan's call had nothing to do with Watergate: the Jesuit congressman objected to Nixon's undeclared war against Cambodia.

The House impeached Bill Clinton for obstruction of justice and for lying under oath to what?

A federal grand jury heard the testimony behind the first article, while the House rejected two other articles, one of them abuse of power.

Whose sexual harassment lawsuit set the Clinton impeachment in motion?

Paula Jones's lawsuit reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in May 1997 that a sitting president was not immune from it.

Which independent counsel's September 1998 report triggered Clinton's impeachment?

Ken Starr was first named in 1994 to investigate Whitewater, an Arkansas land deal, before the Lewinsky affair became his focus.

Which Chief Justice presided over Clinton's Senate trial?

William Rehnquist upheld Senator Tom Harkin's objection to calling senators jurors, ruling that the Senate sat as a court.

Which senator voted 'not proven', a verdict borrowed from Scots law, at Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial?

Arlen Specter said the case against Clinton had not been proved, and the Senate recorded both of his votes as not guilty.

Who secretly recorded Monica Lewinsky describing her relationship with Clinton?

Linda Tripp befriended Lewinsky at the Pentagon, then handed her secret recordings to the independent counsel's investigators in January 1998.

What were the two articles in Donald Trump's first impeachment?

Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress both arose from Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and the Senate acquitted him on both in February 2020.

Which Ukrainian president was Trump accused of pressuring to investigate Joe Biden, leading to his first impeachment?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a comedian who had played a fictional president on TV before he won the real office in 2019.

What prompted the House's formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump in September 2019?

A whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump had pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in return for foreign aid.

Who became the first senator ever to vote to convict a president from his own party?

Mitt Romney explained his vote by calling the corruption of an election perhaps the worst violation of an oath of office he could imagine.

What was the single article in Trump's second impeachment?

Incitement of insurrection was charged after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol, making Trump the first president impeached twice.

Which third-ranking House Republican voted to impeach Donald Trump in January 2021?

Liz Cheney had voted against Trump's first impeachment, and backlash over her break with him later ended her House career.

Who was the lead House manager at Donald Trump's second impeachment trial in 2021?

Jamie Raskin had helped introduce the article of impeachment himself, alongside Representatives David Cicilline and Ted Lieu.

What made Trump's second Senate trial constitutionally unusual?

It began after he left office, so senators first voted on whether trying a former president was constitutional, ruled that it was, and later acquitted him.

Which future Supreme Court justice worked for the independent counsel investigating President Bill Clinton in the 1990s?

Brett Kavanaugh led the independent counsel's inquiry into the death of White House lawyer Vincent Foster, which concluded that Foster had died by suicide.

Which judge removed by the Senate was later elected to Congress, serving until 2021?

Alcee Hastings was removed as a judge in 1989 but not barred from office, and Florida voters kept him in the House from 1993 until his death.

Which Illinois governor was removed in 2009 for trying to sell a Senate seat?

Rod Blagojevich was later convicted of federal corruption charges and went to prison, where he spent eight years.

Evan Mecham, removed in 1988, was governor of which state?

Evan Mecham had rescinded Arizona's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and by 1988 he also faced a recall drive and a felony indictment.

Which Texas attorney general was impeached by the state House in 2023 and later acquitted?

Ken Paxton was suspended from office after the House vote and returned once the Texas Senate acquitted him in September 2023.

Which Homeland Security secretary was impeached in February 2024 after a first House vote failed?

Alejandro Mayorkas never faced a trial: the Senate dismissed the charges against him in April 2024.

Which 14th-century English assembly first used impeachment, against Lord Latimer?

The Good Parliament's weapon then fell out of use until Parliament revived impeachment in the 17th century to bring down royal ministers.

Warren Hastings, impeached by Parliament in 1787, had governed which territory?

Warren Hastings rose from a Bengal clerkship to become Britain's first governor-general of India, then spent seven years on trial before his 1795 acquittal.

Who was the last person impeached in the United Kingdom, acquitted in 1806?

Lord Melville's failed 1806 prosecution was Britain's last impeachment, since ministers answering to Parliament made the procedure unnecessary.

Which Brazilian president was removed from office by the Senate in August 2016?

Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, was removed for breaking budget laws, and Vice President Michel Temer took over.

Which Brazilian president resigned in 1992 trying to halt his impeachment trial?

Fernando Collor was convicted anyway and barred for eight years, yet voters later elected him to the Senate for Alagoas.

Which South Korean president was removed by the Constitutional Court in March 2017?

Park Geun-hye's close friend Choi Soon-sil had seen presidential briefing papers and edited her speeches, fuelling the scandal.

What triggered the December 2024 impeachment of South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol?

Declaring martial law backfired: Yoon Suk Yeol reversed the order within hours, and the Constitutional Court removed him in April 2025.

Peru's Congress removed Pedro Castillo in December 2022 hours after he attempted what?

A self-coup: Pedro Castillo announced he was dissolving Congress to rule by decree, and he was arrested while heading for Mexico's embassy.

Which Philippine president's impeachment trial collapsed in January 2001 after senators blocked key evidence?

Joseph Estrada, a former film actor, was ousted amid mass protests days later, and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over.

Which Lithuanian president was removed by impeachment in April 2004?

Rolandas Paksas was removed over charges that included granting Lithuanian citizenship to a Russian businessman who was a major donor to his campaign.

Romania's Traian Basescu survived two impeachments decided how?

By national referendum: in 2012 most of those who voted backed removing Basescu, but turnout was under half, so the result was invalid.

Which Paraguayan president was impeached and removed within two days in June 2012?

Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, was blamed for a deadly land eviction and replaced by his estranged vice president, Federico Franco.

Which South Korean president was impeached in 2004 but reinstated by the Constitutional Court that May?

Roh Moo-hyun's powers were suspended while the court deliberated, yet his party still won a parliamentary majority in 2004.