The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-13

had been established was the fact that
they were to hold office during rood
behavior, and that there must b. some
tribunal to determine whether or no-
their behavior had terminated their
rsht 10 continue in office. He could
see no like reason for impeachment of
the president. Gouverneur Morris then
remarked that he had been converted
by the arguments that a been pro-
ouced, and that he could now see the
necessity of providing a method of i'm
reaching the president. When the
vote was tkaen only Massachusetts
and South Carolina voted against inn
reaching presidents.
the constitution finally was
adpoted 1t contained a number of pro-
visions with reference to impeach-
ments and Impeachment proceedings
1t gives to the house the sole power
OF impeachment, and to the senate the
sole power of trying the .impeached.
with the exception that where the i'm.
peached is the president of the United
States, the presiding officer shall not
be the vice president or the president
pro tempore, but the chief justice of
the supreme court. No person can be
convicted except with the concurrence
OF tWo-thirds Of the members present.
The only effect a verdict of guilty
in an Impeachment trial can have is
to GUST the impeached official from
office and to %disqualify him to hold
any office of honor, profit, or trust,
under the United States. Blu. this
does not preclude his being tried and
t,I.I,tchnl To- tl~,o "
courts of the land. While the presi-
dent Is vested with power to grant re-
prieves and pardons for all offences
against the United States upon whic.
convictions are secured, the constitu-
ton expressly inhibits his granting
reprieves and pardons in cases of i'm
parchment.
When congress has come to exercise
its powers as the organ of impeach-
ment, the house acting as grand Jury
and prosecuting attorney and the SEN
ate as the trial court, many constitu-
tional questions have been raised. For
instance, when the senate was sitting
in the case of President johnson,
there was some question whether it
was sitting as a court or not. The
NfAASL JeoAi>S NCSl1I GU Tia lle SENATE
sitting in an Impeachment trial, was
a different body from the senate sit
ing as a legislative body. But the
senate. accepting that statement as
true. still was unwilling to admit that
T. was in any sense a court, and passed
a resolution declaring that it was sit
ting as the senate and not as a court,
In the Belknap case the question
was raised whether an Impeachment
trial could be conducted by the SEN
ate In special session. After the mat
ter was put to the senate in various
forms 1t finally decided that while the !
presence of the house is not necessary /
to an Impeachment trial, proceedings
can go on only While congress is in |
session. When the time for voting
came in the Belknap case there was
nluch controversy concerning the form
i should take. The senator's who
wanted to vote for his acquittal did
not want to do so on the ground that
he was innocent of the charges
brought against him, but rather upon
the ground that he, having resigned
before the house voted to impeach him,
was no longer a civil officer of the
United States, and therefore not i'm
%peachable.
A straight vote of guilty or mot
guilty as is the rule in impeachment
proceedings, Would not record the
views OF senator's, so they decided that
when the presiding officer should call
the roll n ask of each senator, Mr..
Senator Blank, how say you, is the re-
spondent, William w. Belknap, guilty
or not guilty of high crime or a high
niisdemeanor as charged in his arti-
cle?" the senator addressed might rise,
answer. and give his reasons. A ma
jority of the senators gave their reas-
ons, stating that they considered Bel
KNAPP a private citizen at the time of
impeachment and therefore not inn
p~eachable. Thus it has come about
that resignation before impeachment
is regarded as taking the right of i'm
parchment away from congress-.
Ihe Interpretation IF the c,nstitu-
ton with reference to impeachments
has been so strict that it generally is
conceded that it is most difficult to
induce the house to vote to impeach
an official of the government, and
even harder yet to get the senate to
vote guilty 1t is this that has led
many to favor some system of recall.
Many constitutional amendments have
been proposed looking to a simplitica-
ton Of the machinery of impeachment,
and some have gone So far as to pro-
pose that the senate hear impeachment
trials by committee, and then base it's
verdict upon the findings of the COM
mittee as to the law and the fact. But
although such a reputedly great con
stitutional lawyer as Senator Suth-
erland of Utah, is the father of the
measure, others say that it would be
a delegation of judicial power, which
the constitution does not permit.
TomorroW-"The Gaelic Language