Sec. 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. 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. . Article II, Section 2, Clause 1. -The President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. Impeachment. The various articles bearing on impeachment have been considered elsewhere in their regular order, but everything in the Constitution on the subject is here arranged so that the student may see it all at a glance. Impeachment originated in England in the fourteenth century. The language, "other high crimes and misdemeanors," is not very clear, and our method of determining guilt is slow and clumsy. The House of Representatives is the prosecutor, and the Senate, with the Vice President presiding, unless the President is on trial, is the judge and jury. Conviction can be only by a two-thirds vote: a strong safeguard against party prejudice, and the excited clamors of the hour. While resting under impeachment charges, and even during his trial, the official may go on with the duties of his office. The Constitution does not define clearly who are officers," but members of Congress and military and naval officers are punished for official misconduct in other ways, so they would probably be the only exceptions among United States officials. There have been, in all, nine federal impeachment cases up to the present time; eight have come to trial, resulting in only three convictions. The most notable case was that of President Andrew Johnson, who was acquitted by lack of one vote. Of the three convictions, two were district judges, and the third (in 1913) was a judge of the commerce court. Minor officials, when misconduct seems evident, are generally asked to resign. LIBRARY REFERENCES Bancroft: History of the United States. (See index.) Fish: The Development of American Nationality, ch. XVI. Forman: Advanced Civics, 132-143. Garner: Government in the United States, chs. XV, XVI, XVII. Harrison: This Country of Ours, chs. IV, VI. Hart: Actual Government, ch. XV. James and Sanford: Government in State and Nation, rev. ed., 213-232. Johnston and Woodburn: American Political History, I, 70-83. Reinsch: Readings on the American Federal Government, chs. I, II, III. Stanwood: History of the Presidency. (See index.) Walker: Making of the Nation, 73-167. Source Material and Supplementary Aids. - Calls for national conventions. Party platforms. Campaign textbooks. The list of electors chosen in your state. Ballots with all presidential candidates and state officers upon them. Copies of presidential messages. Veto messages. Civil service laws and regulations, with examination questions. Copies of treaties and consular reports. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. Why is the executive power of the United States vested in only one man? 2. How are electors nominated? How elected? Why was this plan of choosing the President adopted? Has it worked well? Why? 3. How many electors has your state? How do the political parties, as a rule, divide the popular vote in your state? 4. How did the Twelfth Amendment change the manner of electing Presidents? 5. Why would not a direct vote and a popular majority be a good way to choose the President? 6. Give examples when unusual conditions prevailed in the election of the President. How settled? 7. What is meant by a minority President? 8. In case of death or impeachment of the President, how is he succeeded? 9. How is the President nominated? How many votes does your state have in a national convention? Why? 10. Has the President's power increased or decreased since 1789? Should it be increased? Why? 11. Should cabinet positions ever be made elective? Why? Should cabinet members sit in Congress, but without a vote? Why? 12. Examine the duties of each cabinet department. 13. Wherein is the spoils system bad? Do Presidents like civil service reform measures? Why? 14. Why would our department of state be better named the department of foreign affairs? 15. If there is doubt about what a law means, who advises the President? May the President enforce his own interpretation? Why? QUESTION FOR DEBATE Resolved, That the Constitution should be amended so that a President should be elected for a term of six years, and be ineligible for reëlection. ! CHAPTER XIII THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY Article III, Section 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. Dignity of the Judiciary. It is easy to belittle the dignity, importance, and independence of the national judiciary and offer various and dangerous methods of reconstructing it, because the Supreme Court or some other federal court fails to construe the law in accordance with our individual views. The very fact that men differ in construing the meaning of the law makes a national interpreting power of federal jurisdiction an essential and natural part of the organic law of our land. The principle that made government a necessity and that justifies the national Constitution, is the same principle upon which the national judicial system is built. Webster, in speaking of the national judiciary, said: "The Constitution without it would be no Constitution, the government no government." It is a known fact that the greatest men in American history have been strong and patriotic advocates of the national judiciary. Washington wrote James Wilson as follows: "Considering the judicial system as the chief pillar upon which our government must rest, I have thought it my duty to nominate for the high offices in that department such men as I conceive would give dignity and luster to the national character." Jefferson said: The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent of both, so that it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon it.” Necessity of a Judiciary. It would be useless to make laws unless there was a judiciary to interpret and apply them. Without a national judiciary every state would make its own interpretation and application of the federal laws, and this condition would necessarily lead to serious misunderstandings and great wrongs. Aware of the difficulty of obtaining justice under the Articles of Confederation, the framers of the Constitution were not slow in providing for an independent judiciary easily accessible to the people, in order that justice might be done. Federal Courts. - The Constitution specifies definitely the Supreme Court, and gives Congress the power to create and organize other federal courts. The federal courts of the United States, as now named in the regular order given them in the recent revised and amended codification, designated the "Judicial Code " which took effect January 1, 1912, are1: District Courts. Circuit Courts of Appeals. 1 See Public Document No. 475 - An act to codify, revise, and amend laws relating to the judiciary. |