page_title: Article Two of the United States Constitution
section_title: Section 4: Impeachment
hierarchical_section_title: Article Two of the United States Constitution / Section 4: Impeachment
caption_attribution_description: The Senate as a Court of Impeachment for the Trial of President Andrew Johnson
context_page_description: Article Two of the United States Constitution creates the executive branch of the United States government. The executive branch includes the President; the Vice President; the Cabinet; executive departments, like the Department of State; independent agencies, like the Central Intelligence Agency; and other things like committees and commissions.
context_section_description: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors.
  The Constitution also allows some government officials to be removed from office (fired).  The President, Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries, and other executive officers, as well as judges, may be impeached by the House of Representatives, and then tried in the Senate.
  Anyone who is convicted by impeachment is fired immediately.  The Senate may also choose to prevent the person from holding any federal office in the future.  These are the only punishments that an impeachment proceeding can give.  However, the person can still be tried for civil and criminal charges in the courts, and punished if they are found guilty.
  Impeachment is a power that only Congress has.  In Nixon v. United States (1993), the Supreme Court ruled that even they cannot review or change the Senate's decision in an impeachment trial.  Its impeachment powers give Congress a way to make sure that no executive officials or judges are getting corrupt.
caption: Depiction of the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, in 1868, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding.
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