27F.

Examine how Congress monitors and enforces the ethics of its

members including censure and expulsion

Nicolas Hunter Patton,

Nicole E,

Debbie Gee

Members of Congress• likely to be older white males• Bring variety of viewpoints and

career backgrounds to Congress

• Work as lawmakers, party members, and servants of their constituents

• Generous pay and benefits

Representatives of the People• Trustees- believe that each

question they face must be decided on its merits

• Partisans- those lawmakers who owe their first allegiance to their political party

• Politicos-attempt to combine the basic elements of the trustee, delegate, and partisans

• The Constitution provides that the President, Vice President, and civil officers can be removed from office on impeachment.

• Conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors(military officers are not civil officers)

–Article 2 section 4

Impeachment• The House has sole power to

impeach, or to accuse, bring charges.

• The Senate has the sole power to try, or judge, sit as a court in impeachment cases.

• Requires only a majority vote in the House.

• Requires 2/3 vote in the Senate.

• The penalty for conviction is removal from office or expulsion.

• The Senate may also prohibit a convicted person from ever holding federal office again.

• He or she may be tried in regular courts, any courts that lead to impeachment.

• To date there have been 17 impeachments.

• 7 convictions all of which were removed by the Senate were federal judges.

Censure-is a process by which a formal reprimand is issued to an individual by an

authoritative body.Expulsion-the action of depriving someone of membership in an organization

Bill Clinton• Impeached by the House in 1998 for

“inappropriate behavior” with Monica Lewinski.• He was voted two articles of impeachment

against him.– The first article charged the President with

perjury, or lying under oath.– The second article accused him of

obstruction of justice because he withheld information about his affair with the intern.

• Final conclusion; on February 12th 1999, the Senate acquits Clinton on both charges falling well short of the 2/3’s vote needed for conviction.

Richard Nixon

• A few officeholders have resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment, most notably Richard Nixon

–Resigned the presidency in 1974

–The Watergate scandal, an attempt to break into the Democratic party’s national headquarters.

–Included bribery, tax fraud, perjury, and illegal campaign contributions.

Spitzer• The Nixon case closely relates to

the current happenings with former governor of New York. Spitzer was recently caught spending over $85,000 on prostitution but recently resigned knowing that he would later be charged and impeached.