Oops. Can we impeach a president after they are out of office? Or just jail them?
I wish.
They will just put an asterisk after his name like baseball./s
“Can we impeach a president after they are out of office? Or just jail them?”
Yes and yes - but impeachment is really not viable. If there is anything to be learned from the Clinton impeachment - it is that impeachment is, after all is said and done, a political process that the Democrats at least strictly play as politics. Clinton was clearly guilty of both counts he was impeached for, yet all Democrats voted not guilty and several Republicans joined them on one or both counts.
In 1876 the Secretary of War, William Belknap, was impeached by the House shortly after resigning from office. The historical precedent is there for impeaching a former Government official - and though removal from office as a consequence of conviction is moot, the net effect is “disqualification to hold ... any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.” Article 1, Section 3, clause 7. It would be nice to know that Obama and Clinton could be barred from another elected or appointed office.
While it is tempting to impeach the whole cabal who hold or held any “Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States” such as Obama, Clinton, Comey and other appointed/confirmed officers, one must recognize that conviction in the Senate requires 2/3 vote. Democrats would never vote to convict a fellow Democrat. Ever. Unless Republicans had well more than 2/3 of the Senate (recognize the RINO’s) any action in the House is moot.
Not to say the Democrats won’t try - if they get a majority in the House they will impeach Trump for anything. Other “misdemeanors” will include anything they want.
Impeachment is ABSOLUTELY available for persons who are out of office, in fact, impeachment was invented by the English parliament to prevent people it did not like from being appointed to offices by the King.
Conviction by the Senate offers the Senate TWO possible punishments:
1) Removal from office.
2) Disqualification for a term, or for life, from “holding any office of trust or profit under the United States”.
If punishment #2 were imposed on Obama, he could not become a cabinet member, an ambassador, or a Federal judge.