IMPEACHMENT

Behaving Oneself

1)The president, vice-pres. and all other civil officers may be impeached (HAVE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST) “for treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

2) The House investigates allegations, then decides to prepare articles of impeachment for each charge. For each official charge, a majority vote of the entire House is needed.

3)The Senate will then try the impeached official; if the president is the one on trial then the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides.

4) The Senate needs 2/3’s vote to convict the official who will be removed from office.

5) The person also could face charges in the civil court system.

PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

1) Although Congress is the branch that has the power to declare war, the president also has war powers as commander-in-chief.

2) 2) Presidents have sent troops to other parts of the world to engage in combat w/o congressional approval.

3)In response Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 that limits the time that troops can be committed without congressional authority.

ARTICLE III THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

1) The U.S. has 2 separate court systems-state and national.

2)On the federal level, there is one supreme court and numerous inferior courts.

3) There are 2 levels of federal courts: constitutional and special (deal with much more narrow focus).

4)Cases that are not heard in the federal system are taken care of in the states.

5)A court that has the power to hear a case first has original jurisdiction; if the court hears the case after it has been heard somewhere else first, then it has appellate jurisdiction.

6) The president has the authority to nominate federal judges, and the Senate may confirm by a majority vote.

7)Federal judges, once confirmed, have the appointment for life (unless they mess up).

8)Congress sets their salaries.9)The case of Marbury vs. Madison established

judicial review for the US Su. Ct.10) The US SUP. Ct. has both original and

appellate jurisdiction.

11) Most cases heard come from appeals as the state system (local and state) is where most legal cases are heard.

12) Over 8000 cases per year are sent to the S.C., but only a few hundred or so will get a review.

13) The Court’s term begins in October and ends the following summer of each year.

14)The Supreme Court has one Chief Justice and 8 associate justices-this number is set by Congress.

15) While most crimes are defined on the local and state level, there also are federal crimes. Only one crime is defined in the Constitution in Art. III-treason.