1

In the (very) recent news, due to the violent January 6 events at the Capitol, the Speaker of the House threatened impeachment if the President doesn’t resign soon.

According to her, "the President is unstable and needs to be removed from Office" (source)

“Today, following the president’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office — immediately,” she wrote. “If the president does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.” (source)

An "impeachment" is usually a long process. How can this be put in place before January 20, in less than 2 weeks?

Improve this question
2

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

Impeachment (and removal) needs only a vote in the House of Representatives followed by a vote in the Senate.

The length is in persuading a majority of Representatives and a supermajority of Senators that impeachment is warranted.

Improve this answer
3
  • Not quite. There's also the matter that the Senate is not scheduled to meet other than in pro forma session during the period from the 12th to the 19th of January, and the difficulty in changing that given that it requires unanimous consent of the Senate.
    – JdeBP
    Commented Jan 9, 2021 at 11:15
  • @JdeBP: If 67 or more Senators wanted to remove the President from office and were to assemble someplace to discuss the issue, and 67 or more voted for removal, I'm not sure that the 33 or fewer who didn't agree would have any legal standing to challenge such action unless there were some for doubting that 67 or more Senators had actually voted for removal.
    – supercat
    Commented Jan 9, 2021 at 22:22
  • No. Article 1 section 5 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits that.
    – JdeBP
    Commented Jan 11, 2021 at 16:49

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .