In the United States, impeachment is the process by which a legislature may bring charges against an elected member of the executive branch or an appointed official for severe alleged misconduct, and may result in removal of the guilty from their position after the consequential trial. In addition to Congress at the federal level, impeachment may occur at the state level if the state or commonwealth has provisions for it under its constitution. Impeachment might also occur with tribal governments as well as at the local level of government. Separate procedures are in place for elected members of the legislature to remove a peer for a comparable level of misconduct.
The federal House of Representatives can impeach a party with a simple majority of the House members present or such other criteria as the House adopts in accordance with Article One, Section 2, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution. This triggers a federal impeachment trial in the United States Senate, which can vote by a two-thirds majority to convict an official, removing them from office. The Senate can also vote to bar an individual convicted in a senate impeachment trial from holding future federal office with a simple-majority vote.
Most state legislatures can impeach state officials, including the governor, in accordance with their respective state constitution. A number of organized United States territories do as well. Additionally, impeachment is a practice of other government bodies, such as tribal governments.
Impeachment proceedings are remedial rather than punitive in nature, and the remedy is limited to removal from office. Because the process is not punitive, a party may also be subject to criminal or civil trial, prosecution, and conviction under the law after removal from office. Also because the conviction is not a punishment, the president of the United States is constitutionally prevented from granting a pardon to impeached and convicted persons, that may have protected them from the consequences of a conviction in an impeachment trial.
Federal impeachment
Constitutional provisions
Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution provides:
Article I, Section 3, Clauses 6 and 7 provide:
Article II, Section 2 provides:
Article II, Section 4 provides:
The Constitution limits grounds of impeachment to "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors", but does not itself define "high crimes and misdemeanors".
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to impeach and remove "The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States" upon a determination that such officers have engaged in treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The Constitution does not articulate who qualifies as a "civil officer of the United States".The Constitution also discusses the president's power to appoint "Officers of the United States", "the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments", and "Inferior officers". These are different. Federal judges are subject to impeachment.Joshua E. Kastenberg, The Campaign to Impeach Justice William O. Douglas: Nixon, Vietnam, and the Conservative Attack on Judicial Independence (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2019) Within the executive branch, any presidentially appointed "principal officer", including a head of an agency such as a secretary, administrator, or commissioner, is a "civil officer of the United States" subject to impeachment. An earlier version from 2005 is at https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-806.pdf . At the opposite end of the spectrum, lesser functionaries, such as federal civil service employees, do not exercise "significant authority", and are not appointed by the president or an agency head. These employees do not appear to be subject to impeachment, though that may be a matter of allocation of House floor debate time by the Speaker, rather than a matter of law.
The Senate has concluded that members of Congress (representatives and senators) are not "civil officers" for purposes of impeachment.Senate Journal, 5th Congress, 3rd Session, December 17, 1798, to January 10, 1799. As a practical matter, expulsion is effected by the simpler procedures of Article I, Section 5, which provides "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members... Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member" (see List of United States senators expelled or censured and List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded). This allows each House to expel its own members without involving the other chamber. In 1797, the House of Representatives impeached Senator William Blount of Tennessee.
The constitutional text is silent on whether an officer can be tried after the officer resigns or their term ends. However, when the issue has arisen, the House has been willing to impeach after resignation, and the Senate has been willing to try the official after resignation. In 1797, the Senate continued impeachment proceedings against William Blount even after he had been expelled from office, dismissing the proceedings only after determining that a Senator is not a "civil officer of the United States". In 1876, William W. Belknap was impeached by the House of Representatives hours after resigning as United States Secretary of War. The Senate held by a 37–29 vote that it had jurisdiction to try Belknap notwithstanding his resignation, but ultimately acquitted him after trial. The permissibility of trying a former official was a major issue in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, which commenced twenty days after Trump's term in office expired, although Trump's impeachment itself occurred while he was president. By a 55–45 vote, the Senate rejected a motion asserting that the trial was unconstitutional.
The Constitution does not limit the number of times an individual may be impeached. As of 2025, Donald Trump is the only federal officer to have been impeached more than once.
Process At the federal level, the impeachment process is typically a three-step procedure. The first phase is typically an impeachment inquiry, though this is not a required stage.Impeachment and Removal , Congressional Research Service, October 29, 2015 The two stages constitutionally required for removal are impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial by the United States Senate.
First, the House investigates through an impeachment inquiry. Second, the House of Representatives must pass, by a simple majority of those present and voting, articles of impeachment, which constitute the formal allegation or allegations. Upon passage, the defendant has been "impeached". Third, the Senate tries the accused. In the case of the impeachment of a president, the chief justice of the United States presides over the proceedings. For the impeachment of any other official, the Constitution is silent on who shall preside, suggesting that this role falls to the Senate's usual presiding officer, the president of the Senate, who is also the vice president of the United States. Conviction in the Senate requires the concurrence of a two-thirds supermajority of those present. The result of conviction is removal from office and (optionally, in a separate vote) disqualification from holding any federal office in the future, which requires a concurrence of only a majority of senators present.
Impeachment in the House of Representatives
Impeachment proceedings may be requested by a member of the House of Representatives, either by presenting a list of the charges under oath or by asking for referral to the appropriate committee. The impeachment process may be requested by non-members. For example, when the Judicial Conference of the United States suggests a federal judge be impeached, a charge of actions constituting grounds for impeachment may come from a special prosecutor, the president, or state or territorial legislature, grand jury, or by petition. An impeachment proceeding formally begins with a resolution adopted by the full House of Representatives.
An impeachment resolution may first pass through a House committee before the full House votes on it. The type of impeachment resolution determines the committee to which it is referred. A resolution impeaching a particular individual is typically referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. A resolution to authorize an investigation regarding impeachable conduct is referred to the House Committee on Rules, and then to the Judiciary Committee. The House Committee on the Judiciary, by majority vote, will determine whether grounds for impeachment exist (this vote is not law and is not required, US Constitution and US law).
Either as part of the impeachment resolution or separately specific grounds and allegations of for impeachment will be outlined in one or more articles of impeachment.
The House debates the resolution and may at the conclusion consider the resolution as a whole or vote on each article of impeachment individually. A simple majority of those present and voting is required for each article for the resolution as a whole to pass. If the House votes to impeach, managers (typically referred to as "House managers", with a "lead House manager") are selected to present the case to the Senate. Recently, managers have been selected by resolution, while historically the House would occasionally elect the managers or pass a resolution allowing the appointment of managers at the discretion of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. These managers are roughly the equivalent of the prosecution or district attorney in a standard criminal trial. Also, the House will adopt a resolution in order to notify the Senate of its action. After receiving the notice, the Senate will adopt an order notifying the House that it is ready to receive the managers. The House managers then appear before the bar of the Senate and exhibit the articles of impeachment. After the reading of the charges, the managers return and make a verbal report to the House.
Trial in the Senate
Senate rules call for an impeachment trial to begin at 1 pm on the day after articles of impeachment are delivered to the Senate, except for Sundays. There is no timeframe requirement for when the managers must actually deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate. On the set date, senators are sworn in for the impeachment trial.
The proceedings take the form of a trial, with the Senate having the right to call witnesses and each side having the right to perform cross-examinations. The House members, who are given the collective title of managers during the trial, present the prosecution case, and the impeached official has the right to mount a defense with his or her own attorneys as well. Senators must also take an oath or affirmation that they will perform their duties honestly and with due diligence. After hearing the charges, the Senate usually deliberates in private. The Constitution requires a two-thirds supermajority to convict a person being impeached. The Senate enters judgment on its decision, whether that be to convict or acquit, and a copy of the judgment is filed with the Secretary of State.