the house of representatives has the sole power to call for impeachment.
the house of representatives has the sole power to call for impeachment.
who has the sole power to call for impeachment?
the house of representatives
similar to the british system, article one of the united states constitution gives the house of representatives the sole power of impeachment and the senate the sole power to try impeachments of officers of the u.s. federal government. (various state constitutions include similar measures, allowing the state legislature to impeach the governor or other officials of the state government.) in contrast to the british system, in the united states impeachment is only the first of two stages, and conviction during the second stage requires "the concurrence of two thirds of the members present". impeachment does not necessarily result in removal from office; it is only a legal statement of charges, parallel to an indictment in criminal law. an official who is impeached faces a second legislative vote (whether by the same body or another), which determines conviction, or failure to convict, on the charges embodied by the impeachment. most constitutions require a supermajority to convict. although the subject of the charge is criminal action, it does not constitute a criminal trial; the only question under consideration is the removal of the individual from office, and the possibilities of a subsequent vote preventing the removed official from ever again holding political office in the jurisdiction where he or she was removed.
impeachment
article i, section 2 of the constitution states that the house "shall have the sole power of impeachment", and article i, section 3 provides that the "senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments". since the constitution placed the sole power of impeachment in two political bodies, it is qualified as a political question. as a result, neither the decision of the house to impeach nor a vote of the senate to remove a president or any other official can be appealed to any court. 









































section::::other applications.:foreign policy and war.
political question