In the US, does re-election negate impeachment?

[kaylasdad99]

@BigT

Oh. I thought you would be asking whether you can be reelected after an impeachment (and conviction). In that case, it depends on the actual sentencing–you may be barred from seeking federal office again.

I understand that the Constitution provides that the maximum sentence for conviction in an impeachment trial is forfeiture of the office and a lifetime ban on holding any position of trust in the federal government. Has there ever been any discussion on the question of whether that’s also a MINIMUM sentence?

[Velocity]

@kaylasdad99

I understand that the Constitution provides that the maximum sentence for conviction in an impeachment trial is forfeiture of the office and a lifetime ban on holding any position of trust in the federal government. Has there ever been any discussion on the question of whether that’s also a MINIMUM sentence?

I don’t think it’s a “minimum,” but rather, that it simply does not address the things that lie outside the scope of elected office. If, for instance, Trump were found to have paid Putin’s agents to help him hack the election, then Trump would probably be impeached and removed from office, but that’s all as far as the Constitution is concerned. The rest of what would happen - a federal trial and prison sentence for Trump - would be the job of the courts, not addressed by the Constitution.

Think of it as what happens to pro athletes like Aaron Hernandez who commit crimes. The NFL can have the athlete banned from the league for life, but the subsequent trial and prison sentence isn’t the NFL’s business.

[MandaJo]

@Lord_Feldon

The presiding officer of the Senate is extremely weak. Even if, somehow, he showed up and scheduled the trial, the Senate could overrule that by a simple majority. The Senate is the jury in an impeachment trial, but it’s also the judge. It determines the facts, the law, and the procedure.

Even so, the Senate can vote by a simple majority to “interpret” a rule to mean something else. This is the “nuclear option” that has been used against the filibuster.

This is true, but getting a majority to go on record as approving shenanigans is really different than McConnell just not letting a vote happen.

[Northern_Piper]

@Exapno_Mapcase

The wording at the beginning puzzles, however, because modern practice is that a VP who becomes President is the President, not the VP acting with the powers and duties of the President. I suppose this could reflect a temporary raising of the VP through the 25th Amendment, though.

That would be my thought. What if the President is in a coma, but hasn’t been removed under the 25th, and the Vice-President is being impeached as acting President? Hard to imagine the scenario, but you have to cover off everything.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Northern_Piper

That would be my thought. What if the President is in a coma, but hasn’t been removed under the 25th, and the Vice-President is being impeached as acting President? Hard to imagine the scenario, but you have to cover off everything.

The person being impeached still has that job until the moment of Senate conviction.

[Saint_Cad]

@kaylasdad99

I understand that the Constitution provides that the maximum sentence for conviction in an impeachment trial is forfeiture of the office and a lifetime ban on holding any position of trust in the federal government. Has there ever been any discussion on the question of whether that’s also a MINIMUM sentence?

IIRC, there was discussion after the impeachment trial of John Pickering of the Senate’s discretion in punishment. The Senate quickly decided that a guilty verdict meant automatic removal according to their interpretation of the Constitution.

[Chronos]

I don’t know if there’s precedent at the federal level, but state officials have certainly been impeached and removed from office without being barred from future office. IIRC, Roy Moore was removed from Alabama’s Supreme Court not once, but twice.

[ElvisL1ves]

At the federal level, that happened to Judge Alcee Hastings of Florida, in recognition of the inconvenient fact that he’d been acquitted at his criminal corruption trial when the key witness clammed up (the Senate decided he did take the money anyway). The by-then-former judge played the race card and got elected to the House, where he remains today.