President Clinton has been impeached
by the House of Representatives. How did this happen and
what happens next?
Do you know
what the constitution is? The dictionary tells us that
the constitution is "the system of basic laws and
principles by which a nation, state, or other
organization is governed."
You can read the constitution
for yourself.
The President is the most important
person in the whole country and it is important for the
President to obey the laws just like ordinary people like
me and you.
The
constitution says in Article II, Section 4 that the
President shall be removed from office on impeachment if
he is convicted of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The constitution protects us from
having a President who breaks the laws because America
deserves the BEST PRESIDENT we can find.
WHO has the power to impeach the
President? The constitution says in Article I, Section 2
that the House of Representatives has the "sole power of impeachment."
When
a president is accused of doing impeachable things, then
the House of Representatives do an investigation of the
President. If the House thinks that the President did the
things that he is accused of then they make
"Articles of Impeachment" which say what the
President is accused of doing wrong. The people in the
House then vote on the Articles of Impeachment and if
they have a majority of votes then the investigation of
the President goes to the Senate for a trial.
WHO has the power to "try"
the President in a trial? The constitution says in
Article I, Section 3 that "The Senate shall have the
sole power to try all impeachments."
Have
you ever watched a trial before? The prosecutors are the
people who present the case AGAINST the accused person.
In the Senate trial, some members of the House of
Representatives will act like prosecutors against the
President.
The
President will have lawyers who will defend him and then
the Senate will vote to see if they think the President
really did what he has been accused of doing. If 2/3 of
the Senate votes that they think the President did what
he is accused of doing then the President loses his job
and is no longer President of the United States of
America. If less than 2/3 of the Senate think the
President did what he is accused of doing, the President
will be acquitted.
There
were 4 Articles of Impeachment in the beginning that the
House of Representatives looked at but they decided that
only 2 of the Articles of Impeachment would be sent to
the Senate.
WHAT are those Articles of Impeachment?
Article
1: Accuses the President of "willfully provided
perjurious, false and misleading testimony" when the
President testified before Kenneth Starr's grand jury on
August 17, 1998.
This
means that the President is accused of lying under oath
which is illegal. There are people in America who were
sent to jail for lying under oath.
Article
3: Accuses that the President "prevented, obstructed
and impeded the administration of justice and has to that
end engaged personally, and through his subordinates and
agents, in a course of conduct or scheme designed to
delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of
evidence and testimony" about the Paula Jones case.
This article says that there are 7 things that the
President did that obstructed justice.
This
means that the President has been accused of doing things
to hide the truth from people who were investigating him.
|
Ashley's Impeachment Page for
Concerned Kidz 
