The authority to impeach the president of the United States is one of the most seldom-used powers granted to Congress by the Constitution.
The Constitution states that presidents and other officials can only be impeached on the basis of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” These violations include bribery, perjury, treason and a number of other very serious offenses.
The process of impeachment is long and difficult, which reflects the very specific and serious circumstances when it can be used. Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House to begin proceedings and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict the president and remove him or her from office.
In the 237 years since America’s founding, only two of America’s 44 presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson, for violating the Tenure of Office Act, and Bill Clinton, for committing perjury during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. A third president, Richard Nixon, likely would have been impeached by Congress in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, but he resigned before proceedings could begin.
No president has ever been successfully removed from office, however — both Johnson and Clinton narrowly avoided conviction by the Senate.
Despite the weighty implications of supporting the impeachment of a president, some congressional Republicans have recently rallied enthusiastically around the prospect of impeaching President Barack Obama.
“If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true,” said Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI), according to The New York Times.
The Times also quoted Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who recently said the president was “perilously close” to being in danger of impeachment.
So, what high crimes has Obama committed to deserve impeachment and removal from office?
As of now, none of the Republicans supporting Obama’s impeachment have come forward with any evidence of criminal activity or misconduct that would justify such an act.
Instead, they frequently cite the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — a piece of legislation that was ruled fully lawful and constitutional by the Supreme Court. The recent IRS “scandal” involving alleged increased scrutiny for conservative political action groups, which has also been thoroughly debunked, is another popular source of outrage for impeachment-happy Republicans.
Ironically, actions taken by the Obama administration that some consider unlawful, including the warrantless data collecting conducted by the National Security Administration, are never mentioned by Republicans supporting the president’s impeachment. This is likely because these Republicans are more interested in scoring cheap political points than they are in contributing constructively to public policy.
Essentially, the motivation for impeaching the president for these Republicans is: “He doesn’t share our views, and we don’t like that.” Unfortunately for them, that is not nearly enough of a reason to even consider supporting impeachment.
These Republicans may also be suffering from what some, including journalist and author Jonathan Alter, have called “Obama Derangement Syndrome.” The Republicans who support Obama’s impeachment are so blinded by their hatred for the president that they are willing to say or do anything simply to display their distaste for him.
It would be a political disaster for Republicans to impeach Obama and then provide no evidence to support their actions. Even if such a bill were to pass in the Republican-dominated House, the prospects of conviction in the Democratic-held Senate are essentially zero.
The talk of impeachment coming from congressional Republicans is likely just that: all talk.
Elliot Levy is a UF public relations and political science junior. His column runs on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 9/11/2013 under the headline "Support for impeaching Obama is cheap"
