Representative Gerald Ford asserted that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history

Overview Debates Related claims Topics

Republicans controlled both chambers of the United States Congress for the two years leading up to November 2026

The United States Constitution grants the Senate the sole power to try all impeachments

The framers of the United States Constitution adapted the phrase high crimes and misdemeanors from British parliamentary practice

Each chamber of the United States Congress possesses the constitutional authority to expel its own members

Under the United States Constitution, the Senate cannot initiate its own impeachment process without charges brought by the House of Representatives

The President of the United States possesses constitutional authority to remove lower-level executive branch officers

Impeachment is the sole mechanism provided in the United States Constitution enabling Congress to remove officers of the executive and judicial branches

The United States Constitution grants the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment

The impeachment power provides the United States Congress with an investigatory mechanism to expose misconduct across the executive and judicial branches

The United States Constitution states that civil officers, including the President and Vice President, may be impeached for treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors

Conviction in an impeachment trial requires a two-thirds supermajority vote in the United States Senate

The impeachment power grants the elected legislative branch ultimate supervisory authority to discipline and remove officers of the other two independent branches of government

The framers of the United States Constitution excluded purely criminal punishments from the scope of American impeachment proceedings

Beyond removing an official from office, impeachment serves to establish constitutional norms and standards of conduct for future officeholders

Partisan polarization complicates the separation of powers and alters the incentives of members of Congress to pursue impeachment

Members of the House of Representatives may choose not to pursue impeachment if they anticipate the Senate will not vote to convict

Disagreement over routine policy decisions has historically been insufficient to justify impeachment under the United States Constitution

Penalties for impeachment conviction under the United States Constitution are limited to removal from office and disqualification from holding future public office

Impeachment under the United States Constitution is not restricted solely to criminal violations of statutory law

Congress can abuse the impeachment power either by overusing it for unjustified partisan purposes or by neglecting to act against genuine executive misconduct