by Ray Peters

Created on: December 03, 2009

Consider the following scenario:

The President is teetering on the edge of political disaster. His approval ratings are the lowest in recent memory, the country's economy is in recession, and our troops are embroiled in an unpopular and perhaps un-winnable war. A clear majority of the citizens are calling for the President to be run out of town for good.

After months of debate, in a marathon late-night session, the Congress votes along party lines and delivers a stunning and unassailable vote of no-confidence against the President - removing him from office. The next day he gives a brief and hastily written farewell speech, boards Marine One without further comment to the assembled press, and goes into political exile - his name forever linked with the other presidents deemed not able or unsuitable, to fulfill their terms.

His stunned Vice President is sworn in at noon and also makes a hastily concocted speech promising to unify the country and aggressively attack its many issues, but secretly knowing that it would likely be a futile effort in the face of an openly hostile Congress who'd be looking for any excuse, any at all, to remove him.

The situation just described is a fictional account of course, but say for a moment that this was our reality; where it was possible for the US Congress to wield the power of voting no-confidence against a sitting President and removing him or her from office. Would this be a good thing?

In the United States, the power to remove the President, Vice President, or indeed, any officials within the Federal Government resides with the US House of Representatives - who have the authority to impeach; and the US Senate - who have the authority to try cases of impeachment.

There is a common misconception among the population that the act of impeachment itself removes a President. This is not the case; impeachment is actually an indictment against an individual for impeachable offenses defined by the Constitution as "Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

If the House votes to impeach, then the actual trial is conducted in the Senate to determine if the offense warrants the removal of the President from office. Removal is automatic and immediate if the Senate votes to convict.

To date, impeachment proceedings have been brought against only two sitting Presidents; Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1998. A third President, Richard Nixon, resigned before he would have almost certainly faced impeachment in

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