50 Fun Facts About Impeachment

Which chamber of Congress holds the sole power of impeachment?

The House brings the charges; the Senate then tries the case.

What share of senators present must vote to convict in an impeachment trial?

Conviction removes the official automatically; barring them from future office takes only a separate majority vote.

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

The document never defines the phrase, which is why every impeachment becomes an argument about it.

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

A removed official can still be prosecuted in ordinary courts, where a pardon would apply.

What is the harshest penalty the Senate can impose in an impeachment trial?

Impeachment is remedial, not punitive; criminal liability is left to the regular courts.

Whose 1797 case led the Senate to rule that members of Congress cannot be impeached?

The Tennessee senator had already been expelled; the Senate dismissed the case rather than try him.

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

The New Hampshire district judge was only the second federal official ever impeached.

Who is the only Supreme Court justice ever impeached?

Jeffersonians accused him of partisan rulings in 1804; the Senate acquitted him and he stayed on the bench.

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

Congress had passed it over his veto in 1867 specifically to protect Stanton from dismissal.

By how many votes did Andrew Johnson escape conviction in 1868?

The 35-19 vote on May 16 fell a single vote short of the two-thirds needed.

Which Chief Justice presided over Andrew Johnson's Senate trial?

Chase had been Lincoln's Treasury Secretary before joining the Court.

Which Kansas senator cast the deciding vote to acquit Andrew Johnson?

He was later celebrated in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, though his political career never recovered.

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

The Secretary of War was caught in the Fort Sill trading post kickback scandal; a Senate majority voted to convict but fell short of two-thirds.

How many articles of impeachment did the Judiciary Committee approve against Nixon?

Obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress were approved between July 27 and 30, 1974.

What was the August 1974 recording that sealed Nixon's fate nicknamed?

Released on August 5, it showed him directing the Watergate cover-up; he resigned four days later.

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

Drinan, a Jesuit priest serving in Congress, filed it over the secret bombing of Cambodia.

On what date was Bill Clinton impeached by the House?

The two articles charged him with lying under oath and obstruction of justice.

Whose sexual harassment lawsuit set the Clinton impeachment in motion?

Clinton's sworn denials of a relationship with Monica Lewinsky in that case became the perjury charge.

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

Starr had replaced Fiske in the Whitewater investigation in 1994.

Which Chief Justice presided over Clinton's Senate trial?

He later described his role as doing nothing in particular and doing it very well.

How did the Senate vote on Clinton's obstruction of justice article?

The perjury article drew only 45 votes to convict; 67 were needed.

Who secretly recorded Monica Lewinsky describing her relationship with Clinton?

Tripp was her co-worker at the Defense Department.

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

The House adopted them on December 18, 2019.

How much military aid did Trump hold back from Ukraine in 2019?

The congressionally mandated package was eventually released after the hold became public.

On what date was the Trump-Zelenskyy phone call at the heart of the first impeachment?

A whistleblower complaint about the call was filed in August and became public in mid-September.

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

He voted guilty on the abuse of power article on February 5, 2020.

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

The House adopted it on January 13, 2021, one week before his term ended.

How many House Republicans voted to impeach Trump in January 2021?

Liz Cheney, then the third-ranking House Republican, was among them.

How many senators voted guilty at Trump's second trial, the most ever against a president?

Seven Republicans joined all 50 Democrats; 67 votes were needed.

What made Trump's second Senate trial constitutionally unusual?

The trial started twenty days after his term expired, so senators debated whether a former official could be tried at all.

How many people has the Senate ever disqualified from future federal office?

Judges West Humphreys, Robert Archbald and Thomas Porteous are the only ones.

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

The Senate removed him in 1989 but did not bar him from office, so Florida voters sent him to the House in 1992.

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

The seat had been vacated by Barack Obama; the state Senate also barred him from future office.

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

He was the first governor to face impeachment, a recall election and a felony indictment at the same time.

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

The 121-23 vote suspended him until the Texas Senate cleared him that September.

Which Homeland Security secretary was impeached by a single vote in February 2024?

The 214-213 vote came a week after a first attempt failed; the Senate dismissed the articles the next day.

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

The word's medieval link to the Latin impetere, "to attack", is a false etymology.

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

Edmund Burke led a prosecution that dragged on for seven years before Hastings was overwhelmingly acquitted.

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

Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, was tried over misuse of naval funds.

Which Brazilian president was removed by a 61-20 Senate vote in August 2016?

She was found guilty of breaking budget laws but kept her political rights; Vice President Temer took over.

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

The Senate convicted him anyway and barred him from office for eight years.

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

The scandal centred on her confidante Choi Soon-sil; 234 of 300 lawmakers had voted to impeach.

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

The Constitutional Court upheld his removal 8-0 in April 2025.

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

He had survived two earlier removal votes; his televised attempt to dissolve Congress ended with his arrest.

Which Philippine president's trial collapsed in January 2001 when prosecutors walked out?

Senators had voted not to open a sealed envelope of evidence; protests at EDSA forced him out days later.

Which Lithuanian president was removed by impeachment in April 2004?

The Constitutional Court found he had violated his oath; he later won a seat in the European Parliament.

Romania's Traian Basescu survived two impeachments decided how?

Voters rejected removal in 2007; the 2012 vote went against him but was invalidated by low turnout.

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

The trigger was a deadly land eviction at Curuguaty; the Senate vote was 39 to 4.

In Denmark, who sits on the special Court of Impeachment?

Up to 15 Supreme Court judges and 15 parliamentarians serve six-year terms on the Rigsretten.

What share of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies must vote to open a presidential impeachment?

Two-thirds of senators must then vote to convict.