What is the difference between indictment and impeachment

The power of impeachment translates into the power to indict. The House, through the Judiciary Committee, conducts investigation and gathers evidence. At the proper time, the House assembles the evidence into individual indictments or charges known as Articles of Impeachment. Each article requires a majority vote of the House to pass to the Senate. Once impeached, the officer is on trial. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6 --" The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.

When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

The trial of the impeached officer is held in the Senate. In Nixon v. US , regarding the impeachment trial of a Federal judge, the Supreme Court ruled that the application of the phrase phrase "sole power to try all impeachments" to a particular case was not justiciable. In other words it held that the proper application of this constitutional language to a specific impeachment proceeding was not a question for the courts. Therefore, the process and procedure for impeachment lie solely within the purview of the legislature.

The officer subject to an impeachment proceeding has no appeal to a federal court. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 7 -- "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.

An impeachment and removal does not activate the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment. The ex-officer may face criminal indictments and trials for the same conduct that led to their impeachment and removal from office. Please help us improve our site!

No thank you. CompareWords Compare. What's the difference between impeach and indict? Impeach Definition: v. To hinder; to impede; to prevent. To charge with a crime or misdemeanor; to accuse; especially to charge a public officer , before a competent tribunal, with misbehavior in office; to cite before a tribunal for judgement of official misconduct; to arraign; as, to impeach a judge.

See Impeachment. Both Senator McConnell and Senator Lindsey Graham have noted how they would vote already, in direct contradiction to the oath they must swear at the beginning of the trial to be impartial jurors. On Jan. Pelosi announced the seven House Managers who, after the vote on the articles of impeachment, will be responsible for bringing them formally to the Senate to be received.

The speaker previously noted that she would not commit to a timeframe for transmitting the articles to the Senate until greater assurances were given by Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, about the type of trial that will be conducted.

While it is not unusual for members of Congress to be in contact with the White House during impeachment proceedings, this may be the first public admission of direct co-ordination during an impeachment trial. A trial by the U. Senate in the case of impeachment looks similar in many ways. Evidence is presented, there is a prosecution and a defense, witnesses may be called, and there is a presiding officer.

Despite the conceptual similarities, a Senate trial, formally referred to as a Court of Impeachment, is fundamentally different from a standard trial. For one, it is not a trial that is legal in nature. That is to say, it is not a criminal proceeding but a constitutional one reserved to the legislative branch of the federal government. An individual who is facing impeachment is not facing prison or financial penalties as a result of the proceeding itself but rather removal from office and a potential ban from future office-holding.

This distinction has led to confusion in the past. In a oral history of the Senate , Floyd Riddick, the Senate parliamentarian from to , who oversaw the preparation of the rules and procedures for the possible impeachment trial of Richard M. Nixon, noted the confusion between court procedure and impeachment procedures.

The use of legal language to describe impeachment, on both sides of the aisle and from the legislative and executive branches, muddles the image further.

This exact concept does not apply in an impeachment hearing because it is outside of a legal proceeding and outside of the criminal justice system. Further confusion has been caused by allusions equating the Democratic representatives in the House with prosecutors, leading to the belief that whatever materials are contained in the articles of impeachment are meant to be treated as items brought forth in a criminal indictment. This idea has underpinned the argument made by numerous Republican senators that the Senate rules should be modified to dismiss the articles of impeachment if they are not presented within a certain period of time—as one would if prosecutors did not bring forward charges from a grand jury.

This rule change is highly unlikely, as the Senate requires 67 senators to vote in favor of a change to the rules, in essence requiring bipartisan support. A final distinction between the typical criminal trial and a Senate trial is that, while a criminal trial may be appealed through a variety of court systems, there is no such recourse in the case of an impeachment. In the famous case Nixon v.

Nixon case regarding the Watergate Affair , the Supreme Court determined that impeachments and the processes used by the respective chambers of Congress are not reviewable by the court because matters of impeachment are exclusively reserved to the legislative branch of the federal government. It all begins when the House of Representatives passes articles of impeachment.

Senators present will then be sworn in by the presiding officer. At a mere seven pages, the rules are heavy on pomp and circumstance and light on rules of evidentiary procedure. Because this is the impeachment trial of the president of the United States, the chief justice of the Supreme Court becomes the presiding officer of the Senate, a position usually held by the vice president.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Chief Justice William H.