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In the news: Removing the president from office (Part I)?

The US Constitution contains two provisions for removing a president from office, although technically, only one of these was intended for permanent removal.

Presidents can be impeached, or formally accused, for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ by a simply majority (greater than 50%) the House of Representatives. Three presidents throughout history have been impeached: Andrew Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.

When this occurs, a ‘trial’ is conducted in the US Senate, where the Senate votes whether to remove the president from office. A two-thirds majority vote is required for this.

Removing a president from office by way of the 25th Amendment is different, and will be the subject of Wednesday’s post.

Dr. Baumgartner recently published “Is It Funny if No One is Watching? Public Response to Late-Night Political Satire.”

Abstract: “The past decade has seen a dramatic shift in substance and tone in the political humor found on late-night television talk shows in the U.S. Relatively light-hearted political comedy has in many cases been replaced by more politically oriented political satire. This change has been welcomed by media elites, and most hosts seems to have embraced the idea that their material should be socially and politically relevant. However, we know less about how the public views this change. I present evidence that suggests that public reception to late-night political satire is mixed. Using Google Trends, Nielson ratings and public opinion data, I show that the viewing public seems to be ambivalent about tuning into meaningful political satire as opposed to light-hearted political comedy.”

See: https://doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2020.1850101

Counting the Votes in Congress: “Since the mid-20th century, Congress has met in a Joint Session every four years on January 6 at 1:00 p.m. to tally votes in the Electoral College. The sitting Vice President presides over the meeting and opens the votes from each state in alphabetical order. He passes the votes to four tellers—two from the House and two from the Senate—who announce the results. House tellers include one Representative from each party and are appointed by the Speaker. At the end of the count, the Vice President then announces the name of the next President.
“With the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution (and starting with the 75th Congress in 1937), the electoral votes are counted before the newly sworn-in Congress, elected the previous November.
“The date of the count was changed in 1957, 1985, 1989, 1997, 2009, and 2013. Sitting Vice Presidents John C. Breckinridge (1861), Richard Nixon (1961), and Al Gore (2001) all announced that they had lost their own bid for the Presidency” (https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/).

Continuing our series on the Electoral College: Did you know? “Since the Electoral College’s founding, there have been 167 cases of “faithless electors,” or electors voting for someone other than their party’s candidate… Of the 167 faithless electors in United States history, 71 changed their votes because of the death of their candidate, 3 abstained, and 93 opted to vote differently for personal reasons… Though some states have laws mandating that electors vote as promised, no “faithless elector” has ever been severely prosecuted” (see https://www.factretriever.com/electoral-college-facts).

Part VI in our series on the Electoral College: Did You Know? “A similar electoral college was previously used by the Holy Roman Empire. From the Middle Ages until 1792, leaders of the Holy Roman Empire were elected by a college of prince-electors from various German states.” (History.com).

But, with very few exceptions, the system has not been emulated by other countries. It is, in other words, pretty unique to the American republic.

See: https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-electoral-college.

Did You Know? Every state except Maine and Nebraska has a winner-take-all electoral vote system. In this system, where the winner of the popular vote in the state receives all of the state’s electoral votes.

Maine and Nebraska award 2 votes to the winner of the popular vote in the state. The additional votes (in Maine 2 more, in Nebraska 3 more) are awarded according to the candidate who wins in each congressional district.

In practice, the candidate who wins the statewide vote usually wins in each of the congressional districts. However in 2016 Maine split its votes, and in 2020, both states did so.

Paul Nagy admits that when he arrived at East Carolina University as a transfer student in 1980, he didn’t have the best game plan.
He got a job working the graveyard shift at the A&P, causing him to fall asleep in his classes during the day. He rented a room in a house 20 miles away with shoddy electricity and desultory roommates, isolating him from the connectivity of campus. He ended up failing five courses, something he attributes partially to “transfer shock,” or the tendency of students transferring from one institution of higher education to another to experience a temporary dip in grade point average.
“Even though I had a lot of troubles, I saw the value of the institution,” Nagy said. “I never wanted to stop with a bachelor’s; I always had aspirations for a master’s degree.”
Nagy’s mother, Mary Forrest, was an archetype of a non-traditional student. She was a single mom with two kids, teaching piano and struggling to makes ends meet when she decided to change her lot in life. The answer was enrolling at the local community college in Carteret County. She transferred to ECU to complete her bachelor’s degree and then a master’s, allowing her to become a director of information technology in the Carteret school district.
“My sister and I followed suit and did the same thing. We also went to Carteret Community College – the closest and most accessible, which allowed us to afford ECU,” Nagy said. At ECU, he sorted himself out and graduated with a degree in library science in 1983. With that momentum, he rolled right into the Master of Public Administration program in the department of political science, graduating in 1984. He and his sister now both have PhDs, starting from that transfer-portal foundation.
It was ECU’s Master of Public Administration program that shaped him the most, Nagy said.
“The broad latitude of options and career choices as well as the concepts of public service and giving back were very compelling to me,” he added.
ECU’s MPA program is geared for people interested in starting or advancing a professional career in government or nonprofit management and policy. Graduates have gone on to work as town managers, public affairs officers and policy analysts for NASA, the Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others.
“To me, the MPA program at ECU prepares confident public administrators with the toolkits they need to manage these organizations that we rely on every day. It trains problem solvers for our current challenges and gives them opportunities to improve our society,” Nagy said.
Today, Nagy is the vice president of strategic planning & analysis at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. He helps students avoid the dreaded transfer shock when transitioning to the neighboring University of South Florida.
“The approach I learned at ECU really inculcated the approach I take to the work I do today. I’m very grateful for that,” he said.
That gratitude manifested in a $25,000 donation to the Drs. Paul & Rebecca Nagy Endowment for the Master of Public Administration Program. Made on Pirate Nation Gives last year, his support will help current and future MPA students.
“MPAs already have the mindset of service. We’re all about public service, giving back. This is an extension of that mindset,” Nagy said.
In recognition of Nagy’s commitment to the MPA program and his own success in the field, the department of political science named him a recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award this year. The department created the award in 2014 as a way of recognizing graduates who have excelled in their careers and communities. The awardees are nominated by a faculty member and the recipient is selected by a vote of the full faculty. Normally, recipients are given a trophy at the department’s spring graduation ceremony. Because of the ongoing pandemic, Nagy got his in the mail. It was still an honor, he said.
“I was humbled. I was practically speechless. It motivates me even more.”

Continuing Our Series about the Electoral College: Where Do the Electors Meet? “The meetings are held at the state capitols and in the District of Columbia. They start around 9 a.m. and end around 3 p.m. in various states. The electors cast their votes and sign a form confirming they voted. That all goes into the Certificate of Vote. Once those documents go to the federal government, the Office of the Federal Register confirms the votes and then they are read out in Congress in early January. There is a process for House and Senate members to object to votes, but that is rarely used and hasn’t affected an election.”

From https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-electoral-college/.

Did You Know? Members of Congress and federal employees are precluded from serving as electors in the Electoral College. The manner of choosing electors is left to the states, although the Constitution stipulates that “no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.”

From https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-electoral-college.

Did You know? More Constitutional amendments have been proposed to reform or eliminate the Electoral College than on any other subject? 
“There have been over 700 proposals introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. In 1969, an amendment that passed overwhelmingly in the House (338 to 70) and had the endorsement of President Richard Nixon was filibustered and killed in the Senate. As an end-around to a Constitutional amendment, the National Popular Vote interstate compact is working to have states pledge to award their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. As of December 2012, the bill had been enacted by eight states and the District of Columbia, which together possess a total of 132 electoral votes. The measure would not be enacted until states possessing 270 votes approve it.”

From: https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-electoral-college.