propounded to each member of the senate by name, by the president of the senate, in the following manner, upon each article, the same being first read by the secretary of the senate. "Mr. ———, how say you, is the respondent guilty, or not guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour, as charged in the ——— article of impeachment?" Whereupon the member rises in his place, and answers guilty, or not guilty, as his opinion is. If upon no one article two thirds of the senate decide, that the party is guilty, he is then entitled to an acquittal, and is declared accordingly to be acquitted by the president of the senate. If he is convicted of all, or any of the articles, the senate then proceed to fix, and declare the proper punishment.[1] The pardoning power of the president does not, as will be presently seen, extend to judgments upon impeachment; and hence, when once pronounced, they become absolute and irreversible.[2]
§ 810. Having thus gone through the whole subject of impeachments, it only remains to observe, that a close survey of the system, unless we are egregiously deceived, will completely demonstrate the wisdom of the arrangements made in every part of it. The jurisdiction to impeach is placed, where it should be, in the possession and power of the immediate representatives of the people. The trial is before a body of great dignity, and ability, and independence, possessing the requisite knowledge and firmness to act with vigour,- ↑ This summary, when no other authority is cited, has been drawn up from the practice, in the cases of impeachment already tried by the senate of the United States, viz. of William Blount, in 1798; of John Pickering, in 1804; of Samuel Chase, in 1804; and of James H. Peck, in 1831. See the Senate Journals of those Trials. See also Jefferson's Manual, sect. 202.
- ↑ Art. 2, sect. 2, clause 1.
