Can a Potus Run for Another Term if Impeached by House

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Last month, in the final week of then-President Donald Trump's presidency, the Business firm voted 232-197 to impeach Trump for a 2nd time, charging him with "incitement of insurrection" for inflaming a pro-Trump mob that attacked and briefly occupied the US Capitol on January 6. Trump'southward second impeachment trial begins Tuesday, even though he is no longer in office.

Then why would lawmakers carp with impeachment? One answer is that removal is not the simply sanction available if Trump is convicted: The Constitution as well permits the Senate to permanently disqualify Trump from property "any office of laurels, trust or profit under the Usa."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has called for the removal of President Trump from office.

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If Trump were to seek the presidency again in iv years, he could be the prohibitive favorite in a Republican Party primary. A Dec Gallup poll shows that Trump has an 87 percent approval rating amidst Republicans, even though he is quite unpopular with the nation as a whole. Another December poll by Quinnipiac University found that 77 per centum of Republicans believe the prevarication that Trump lost to Biden because of widespread voter fraud — a prevarication that Trump repeated fifty-fifty equally his supporters wreaked havoc in the Capitol in Jan.

Disqualifying Trump from belongings function, in other words, wouldn't just eliminate the risk that America'due south most prominent adversary of democracy would occupy the White House again. It would also make way for other ambitious Republicans who hope to go president anytime.

How disqualification works

Though Congress has the power to remove public officials via impeachment, this power is rarely used. Including Trump, who was impeached in late 2022 for pressuring Ukraine to arbitrate in the 2022 election, only 20 officials (and merely iii presidents) have been impeached past the Firm in all of American history. And, of these xx impeached individuals, simply eleven were either bedevilled by the Senate or resigned their office after they were impeached.

The term "impeachment" refers to the House's conclusion to charge a public official with "high crimes and misdemeanors," the phrase the Constitution uses to describe offenses warranting removal of a high official. The House may impeach such an official by a simple majority vote.

Later on such a vote, the matter moves to the Senate, which volition behave a trial and decide whether to convict the impeached official (if the president is impeached, the Chief Justice of the U.s. shall preside over this trial). Convicting someone who is impeached requires a two-thirds bulk vote in the Senate.

If the impeached official is bedevilled, the Senate and then must decide what sanction to impose upon that official. Under the Constitution, "judgment in cases of impeachment shall non extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and bask whatsoever office of honor, trust or profit nether the United States." So the Senate finer must determine whether simply removing the official from part is an appropriate sanction, or whether permanent disqualification is warranted.

Although the Congress may only remove and disqualify a public official, federal prosecutors may still bring criminal charges against that official in federal courtroom.

In all of American history, just iii individuals — former federal judges West Humphreys, Robert Archibald, and Thomas Porteous — accept been permanently barred from belongings futurity office.

The Constitution is silent on whether, after an official has already been impeached and removed from function, imposing the additional sanction of disqualification requires a supermajority vote. In the past, however, the Senate determined that a elementary majority vote is sufficient for disqualification. Gauge Archibald was butterfingers by a vote of 39-35 after he was removed from office.

To be articulate, such a uncomplicated majority vote may only take identify subsequently the Senate has already voted to convict an impeached official. Two-thirds of the Senate must first concord to remove someone from office before that official can be disqualified — a simple majority cannot, interim on its ain, disqualify an official from holding future office.

Even if Trump is bedevilled by the Senate — an unlikely result given that the Senate is still controlled by Republicans — impeachment could simply cut Trump's time in office short by a few days.

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The Supreme Court has non ruled on whether uncomplicated majority vote is sufficient to disqualify someone from public function after they've already been removed. Humphreys and Porteous were both disqualified in supermajority votes, and Archibald never brought a instance before the Court that could accept allowed the justices to rule on how many votes are required to disqualify a public official.

Nevertheless, there is a potent constitutional argument that the Senate should be allowed to disqualify an individual by a simple majority vote, after that individual has already been convicted by a two-thirds majority.

In criminal trials, defendants typically savor far fewer procedural protections during the sentencing stage of their trial than they do in the phase that determines their guilt or innocence. In trials non involving a possible expiry judgement, a defendant must be bedevilled by a jury, just the sentence can be handed down by a single judge.

A like logic could be applied to impeachment trials. Before a public official is convicted by the Senate, they savour heightened procedural protections and must be found guilty by a supermajority vote. Later on they are bedevilled, however, they are stripped of those protections and their sentence may be determined by a uncomplicated majority of the Senate.

In whatsoever event, overcoming the hurdle of convicting Trump will be difficult. If all 50 Senate Democrats hold together, they still need to convince at to the lowest degree 17 Republicans to convict Trump. And the overwhelming majority of Republicans already voted to declare Trump'south second impeachment trial unconstitutional — so that's non a nifty sign for anyone hoping that Trump might be convicted.

The question for Republican senators, notwithstanding, is whether they want to take chances having Trump as their standard-bearer in 2024.

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Source: https://www.vox.com/22220495/impeachment-trump-2024-election-bar-from-office

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