If a president is impeached and forced out, does he forfeit the benefits presidents get once they leave office, and what is the presidential line of succession after the vice president and the speaker of the House?

The Former Presidents Act withholds post-presidency benefits from chief executives whose exits follow impeachment and conviction in Congress.

The law, which took effect in 1958, defines “former president,” in part, as anyone “whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal.”

The Constitution gives the U.S. House “the sole Power of Impeachment” — authorizing its members to draft formal charges — and says the Senate has “the sole Power to try all Impeachments.”

If a president is found guilty in the Senate, he or she is removed from office.

“The Constitution describes the grounds of impeachment as ‘treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ ” reads a Congressional Research Service report from 2015.

“While treason and bribery are relatively well-defined terms, the meaning of ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors’ is not defined in the Constitution or in statute and remains somewhat opaque.

“It was adopted from the English practice of parliamentary impeachments, which appears to have been directed against individuals accused of crimes against the state and encompassed offenses beyond traditional criminal law.”

Two chief executives have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Neither was convicted. Richard Nixon in 1974 staved off impeachment by resigning before the full House could vote on the matter.

Down the line

The full line of succession, which is delineated in the Presidential Succession Act, signed by President Harry Truman in the summer of 1947 and amended since then:

Vice president

Speaker of the House of Representatives

President pro tempore of the Senate

Secretary of state

Secretary of the treasury

Secretary of defense

Attorney general

Secretary of the interior

Secretary of agriculture

Secretary of commerce

Secretary of labor

Secretary of health and human services

Secretary of housing and urban development

Secretary of transportation

Secretary of energy

Secretary of education

Secretary of veterans affairs

Secretary of homeland security

“The original act of 1792 had placed the Senate president pro tempore and Speaker of the House in the line of succession, but in 1886 Congress had removed them,” reads the website of the U.S. Senate.

“The 1947 law reinserted those officials, but placed the Speaker ahead of the president pro tempore.”

 

www.archives.gov; https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44260.pdf; www.senate.gov.

 

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.