Question

What changes would you make to the impeachment process to make it less partisan? Defend your ideas.

Answer 1

Presidential impeachment should not be political affairs. An impeachment vote is relatively easy to mobilize. Just a majority in the House of Representatives is needed to support an impeachment, and if they so choose in the House, the majority party can go it alone. A conviction at a U.S. impeachment court But a two-thirds vote is required in the Senate. It is exceedingly rare for one party to have sufficient votes in the Senate to generate a conviction alone. When a president is to be removed from office by impeachment, it is important that, in that decision, at least some members of the president's own party approve.

An impeachment without removal is harmful in itself. Congress would be held tied in the impeachment proceedings for an extended period of time. Unless the president lacks conviction, a lame duck will also be made ineffective. Its domestic agenda would undoubtedly come to a halt, and its position in the foreign affairs arena would diminish significantly. This would be serious to seek political recriminations from impeachment proceedings where a conviction can not be secured.

An impeachment effort supported primarily by a president's partisan foes is threatening to undermine the stability of the entire political system. If the supporters of the president remain largely unconvinced that an impeachment is warranted then an effort to impeach would appear to be little more than a partisan effort to undo a legitimate election. If people are to have confidence in the political system, they must at least be confident that a peaceful transfer of power will take place when the incumbents lose an election, and that the electoral losers will accept the election results and take on the role of the loyal opposition until the next election

If the power of impeachment is perceived as little more than a partisan tool to undermine elected officials and overturn the results of elections, then the value of elections to resolve our political disagreements is significantly reduced. We don't want to be in a situation where neither side trusts the other to continue to adhere to the most fundamental democratic norms of adhering to election results.