Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. In the United States, the House of Representatives can impeach a federal officeholder, including the president, with a simply majority of the House members present. Most state legislatures can impeach state officers, including the governor, in accordance with their state's constitution.
Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there is no requirement for the misconduct to be an indictable crime. At the federal level, an impeached official may continue to serve their term until a trial in the United States Senate yields a judgement that directs their removal from office or until they leave office through some other means. A two-thirds majority of the senators present at the trial is required for conviction under Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution.
Federal impeachment[]
Presidents of the United States[]
To date, three presidents have been impeached on four different occasions: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998–99, and Donald Trump in 2019–20 and 2021. No president has ever been convicted and removed from office through impeachment, though the trial of Andrew Johnson saw him acquitted in the Senate by one vote, and the trials of Donald Trump saw the first time members of the president's own political party voted to convict and remove them from office. President Trump was also the first and only president thus far to be impeached twice.
Members of the United States Cabinet[]
Two members of the United States Cabinet have been impeached. The first was Secretary of War William W. Belknap in 1876, but he resigned before the Senate voted to convict him or not; he was acquitted. The second was Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024; the charges were dismissed by the Senate.
Judges and Supreme Court Justices[]
There have been fifteen federal judges or Supreme Court justices to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. Eight of them were convicted and removed from office. One of those removed, Alcee Hastings, went on to be elected to the House in 1992.
Others[]
Senator William Blount of Tennessee was expelled from the Senate on July 8, 1797. Though the House passed articles of impeachment against him on January 28, 1798, the Senate did not act on them, believing they had no jurisdiction, as he was already expelled from Congress.
State and territory impeachments[]
State and territorial legislatures can impeach state and territorial officials, including governors, in every jurisdiction except Oregon, though the court for the trial of impeachments may differ somewhat from the federal model. Impeachment and removal of governors has happened occasionally throughout the history of the United States, usually for corruption charges. At least eleven U.S. state governors have faced an impeachment trial; a twelfth, Governor Lee Cruce of Oklahoma, escaped impeachment by one vote in 1912. At least five state governors have been convicted and removed from office through impeachment: William Sulzer of New York, James E. Ferguson of Texas, Jack C. Walton of Oklahoma, Evan Mecham of Arizona, and Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.