on its journal and proceeds to reconsider. If two-thirds The bill is of this house also vote for the bill, it becomes a law notwithstanding the President's objections. now said to pass over the President's veto. on vetoed bills the Houses must vote by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting are entered on the journal. If the house to which the bill is returned fails to give it a two-thirds vote, the matter goes no farther; if the second one fails to give it such vote, the failure is also fatal. In either case the President's veto is said to be sustained. 3. The President may keep the bill in his possession, refusing either to approve or disapprove it. In this case, it also becomes a law, when ten days, counting from the time that the bill was sent to him, have expired, not including Sundays. However, to this rule there is one important exception. If ten days do not intervene between the time that the President receives the bill and the adjournment of Congress, not counting Sundays, it does not become a law. Accordingly the failure of the President to sign or to return a bill passed within ten days of the adjournment defeats it as effectually as a veto that is sustained by Congress could defeat it. The President sometimes takes this last course, in which case he is said to "pocket" a bill or to give it a "pocket" veto. 344. Orders, Resolutions, and Vetoes. — Every order, resolution, or veto to which the concurrence of both Houses of Congress is necessary, save on questions of adjournment, must be sent to the President for his approval. This rule prevents Congress enacting measures to which the President may be opposed by calling them orders, resolutions, or votes and not bills. Still the resolutions of a single house, or joint resolutions that merely declare opinions and do not enact legislation, are not subject to this rule. Nor is it necessary for the Pres ident to approve resolutions proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States. 345. The Committee System.-To a great extent legislation is carried on in both Houses by means of committees. These are of two kinds. Standing committees are appointed on certain subjects, as commerce, the postoffice, and foreign affairs, for a Congress. Special committees are appointed for special purposes. The House of Representatives has more than fifty standing committees; the Senate not quite so many. All House committees are appointed by the Speaker. Senate committees are elected by the Senators on caucus nominations. The standing committees of the House consist of from three to seventeen members; of the Senate from two to thirteen. The committees draw up bills, resolutions, and reports, bringing them forward in their respective houses. To them also bills and resolutions introduced by single members are almost always referred for investigation and report before they are acted upon in the house. 346. Adjournments.-The common mode of adjournment is for the two Houses to pass a joint resolution to that effect, fixing the time. The President may, in case of a disagreement between the Houses respecting the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he thinks proper; but no President has ever had occasion to do so. Neither House, during the session of Congress, can, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, or to any other place than the one in which Congress shall be sitting at the time. It is therefore practically impossible for the two Houses to sit in different places, as one in Washington and the other in Baltimore. As is elsewhere explained, the Senate may sit alone to transact executive business, if it has been convened for that purpose. CHAPTER XXXII. THE IMPEACHMENT OF CIVIL OFFICERS. The American Government. Sections 302-311; 484. 347. Impeachment Defined. In the legal sense, an impeachment is a solemn declaration by the impeaching body that the person impeached is guilty of some serious misconduct that affects the public weal. In the United States, the President, Vice-President, and all other civil officers are subject to impeachment for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. In England, military officers and private persons may be impeached as well as civil officers. The other crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the Constitution are not necessarily defined or prohibited by the general laws. In fact, few of them are so treated. Impeachment is rather a mode of punishing offenses that are unusual, and that, by their very nature, cannot be dealt with in the general laws. Thus Judge Pickering was impeached in 1803 for drunkenness and profanity on the bench, and Judge Chase the next year for inserting criticisms upon President Jefferson's administration in his charge to a grand jury, while President Johnson was impeached in 1867, among other things, for speaking disparagingly of Congress. But none of these acts were prohibited by the laws. Senators and Representatives are exempt from impeachment. 348. The Power of the House.-The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment, as the House of Commons has in England. The following are the principal steps to be taken in such case. The House adopts a resolution declaring that Mr. be impeached. Next it sends a committee to the Senate to inform that body of what it has done, and that it will in due time exhibit articles of impeachment against him and make good the same. The committee also demands that the Senate shall take the necessary steps to bring the accused to trial. Then the House adopts formal articles of impeachment, defining the crimes and misdemeanors charged, and appoints a committee of five managers to prosecute the case in its name, and in the name of the good people of the United States. These articles of impeachment are similar to the counts of an indictment found by a grand jury in a court of law. 349. The Power of the Senate.-The action of the House of Representatives settles nothing as to the guilt or innocence of the person accused. The Constitution places the power to try impeachments exclusively in the Senate, as in England it is placed exclusively in the House of Lords. So when the House has taken the first step described in the last paragraph, the Senate takes the action that is demanded. It fixes the time of trial, gives the accused an opportunity to file a formal answer to the charges that have been made against him, and cites him to appear and make final answer at the time that has been fixed upon for the trial. The Senators sit as a court, and when acting in such a capacity they must take a special oath or affirmation. When the President is tried, the Chief Justice presides. No person shall be convicted unless two-thirds of the Senators present vote that he is guilty of one or more of the offenses charged. As the Vice-President would have a personal interest in the issue should the President be put on trial, owing to the fact that the Vice-President succeeds to the presidency in case of the removal of the President, it would manifestly be a gross impropriety for him to preside in such case. verdict. 350. He would be in a position to influence the The Trial.-The Senate sits as a court, as before explained. The ordinary presiding officer occupies the chair on the trial, save in the one excepted case of the President. At first the House of Representatives attends as a body, but afterwards only the five managers are expected to attend. The accused may attend in person and speak for himself; he may attend in person, but entrust the management of his cause to his counsel; he may absent himself altogether, and either leave his cause to his counsel or make no defense whatever. Witnesses may be brought forward to establish facts, and all other kinds of legal evidence may be introduced. The managers and the counsel of the accused carry on the case according to the methods established in legal tribunals. When the case and the defense have been presented, the Senators discuss the subject in its various bearings, and then vote yea or nay upon the various articles that have been preferred. The trial is conducted with open doors, but the special deliberations of the Senate are carried on behind closed doors. A copy of the judgment, duly certified, is deposited in the office of the Secretary of State. 351. Punishment in Case of Conviction. The Constitution declares that judgment in cases of conviction shall not go further than to work the removal of the officer convicted from his office, and to render him disqualified to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. It declares also that all persons who are impeached shall be removed from office |