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elias7

(4,009 posts)
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:50 PM Sep 2019

Can a president be impeached twice?

Consider impeachment but no conviction in the next 12 months, followed by (god forbid) Trump getting re-elected. Given the coming due of all the spin-off cases of Mueller, the (where is it already?) counterintelligence investigation, and Trump own mob tactics and general disregard for the law, it would seem to me that there will more impeachable fodder over the next few years if he were still in office.

Could he be impeached a second time? It would give him valid bragging rights for something...

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,743 posts)
1. Sure, double jeopardy doesn't apply because it's not a criminal proceeding.
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:51 PM
Sep 2019

But it probably wouldn't be politically supportable.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,743 posts)
3. Only if you're convicted. You can be impeached as many times
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:52 PM
Sep 2019

as the House wants to do it if you're acquitted every time and stay in office.

Response to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #3)

regnaD kciN

(26,044 posts)
4. There's nothing giving a president "double indemnity" protection...
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:53 PM
Sep 2019

...so, yes, if they found something more, they could impeach him again. But, if the first impeachment fails, and he gets re-elected anyway, it’s hard to imagine the political will to try again, unless the offense was unimaginably worse than what we’ve already seen.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,743 posts)
12. Double jeopardy (can't be tried twice for the same crime).
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 09:15 PM
Sep 2019

Double indemnity is a clause in life insurance policies that doubles the payout in some cases of accidental death.

unblock

(52,257 posts)
6. Constitutionally, sure. Even for the same offense.
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:55 PM
Sep 2019

There's no concept of double jeopardy. Just like they can try to repeal Obamacare 67 times or whatever, we could impeach Donnie 67 times.

In practice, though, politics probably makes it a one-time deal unless the situation really changes between the two attempts.

UTUSN

(70,711 posts)
7. With her customary thoroughness, Rachel's context last night was: Andrew JOHNSON was attempted twice
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 08:55 PM
Sep 2019

Celerity

(43,419 posts)
17. he was impeached once, but tried twice in the Senate (on different charges)
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 09:29 PM
Sep 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was initiated on February 24, 1868, when the United States House of Representatives resolved to impeach Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, for "high crimes and misdemeanors", which were detailed in 11 articles of impeachment.

The primary charge against Johnson was violation of the Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress in March 1867, over his veto. Specifically, he had removed from office Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War—whom the Act was largely designed to protect—and attempted to replace him with Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas. (Earlier, while the Congress was not in session, Johnson had suspended Stanton and appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as Secretary of War ad interim.)

Johnson became the first American president to be impeached (the only one prior to Bill Clinton in 1998) on March 2–3, 1868, when the House formally adopted the articles of impeachment and forwarded them to the United States Senate for adjudication.

The trial in the Senate began three days later, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. On May 16, the Senate failed to convict Johnson on one of the articles, with the 35–19 vote in favor of conviction falling short of the necessary two-thirds majority by a single vote.

A ten-day recess was called before attempting to convict him on additional articles. The delay did not change the outcome, however, as on May 26, it failed to convict the president on two articles, both by the same margin; after which the trial was adjourned.

jcgoldie

(11,631 posts)
14. IMPEACH that motherfucker as many times as it takes!
Thu Sep 26, 2019, 09:23 PM
Sep 2019

I'm still pulling for ONE although Mitch McConnell can go fuck himself and maybe I had a lot of vodka already.

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