Title: How does the judicial branch tie in with impeachment? - eNotes.com
Headings: How does the judicial branch tie in with impeachment?
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How does the judicial branch tie in with impeachment?
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Content: Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Alec Cranford
Educator since 2011
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In the Constitution, the judicial branch of the United States government is involved in impeachment in two ways. The first is that a member of the judicial branch, whether the Supreme Court, district courts, or federal appeals circuit court, can be impeached by the House of Representatives and removed from office by the Senate. This has happened to a sitting federal justice just a few times—fifteen to be exact—with eight justices actually removed from office. The judiciary's other involvement in the impeachment process is that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over removal proceedings in the Senate if the president has been impeached. If the impeached person is a justice, the Senate is both judge and jury of the party. So the involvement of the judiciary in the impeachment process is quite limited, emphasizing the fact that impeachment is really a legislative act related to the fitness of a person for office, and not a judicial one. In fact, technically, since the impeachment process refers only to the role played by the House, the judiciary only participates in impeachment when one of its own members is subject to it. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
Isabell Schimmel
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If you are talking about the political and legal system of the United States, the judicial branch has only a very small role to play in the process of impeachment. Impeachment is, instead, largely something that is done by Congress.