Voice of Revolution

International Tribunal Issues Preliminary Findings:

Government at All Levels Guilty of
Crimes Against Humanity

InternationalTribunal.org

From August 29, 2007 to September 2, 2007, a Tribunal of 16 esteemed jurists from nine countries, including Algeria, Brazil, France, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela, and the United States, convened in New Orleans to hear testimony by experts and survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After hearing nearly 30 hours of testimony by hurricane survivors and experts — covering government neglect and negligence in 15 areas, ranging from police brutality to environmental racism, from misappropriation of relief to gentrification, the jurists announced their preliminary findings.

Jill Soffiyah Elijah, the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School and Coordinating Justice for the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, announced the Tribunal’s preliminary findings, “It is our view that the U.S. Government has committed crimes against humanity particularly in relation to its failure to maintain functional levees that should have protected the City of New Orleans from flooding….it was the reckless disregard and, in some instances, negligence of the U.S. government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans that created the devastation we continue to see today.”

Elijah also announced that the Tribunal made preliminary findings that the federal, state and local governments are guilty of violating the human rights to life, dignity and recognition of personhood; the right to be free from racial discrimination — especially as it pertains to the actions of law enforcement personnel and vigilantes; the right to return, resettlement and reintegration of internally displaced persons; the right to be free from degrading treatment and punishment; the right to freedom of movement; the right to adequate housing and education; the right to vote and participate in governance and the right to a fair trial, the right to liberty and security of person and the right to equal protection under the law. Both actions and failure to act by the government had disproportionate and devastating impact with respect to race and gender.

The jurists announced that they would deliver their final verdict December 8, 2007—the second anniversary of the Katrina Survivors’ Assembly. In the meantime, prosecutors will be submitting additional evidence and videotaped affidavits from an additional 25 survivors.

The prosecution team included experienced attorneys from respected legal associations around the country: the ACLU of New York, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, the US Human Rights Network, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights, Washington DC Legal Defender, Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Legal Empowerment Center and the Louisiana Justice Initiative.

The Tribunal Conveners—representing movements for justice on four continents—reminded Tribunal participants and witnesses of the solemnity of their task. Lybon Mabasa, a founding member with Stephen Biko of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, insisted, “We must hold these criminal governments to account in order to stop the world from sinking into barbarism and to make the world fit for living for all humanity.”

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Charges and Goals of International Tribunal

The Charges

Hurricane survivors have serious charges against the federal, state and local governments for violating their human rights. The charges cover three periods of abuse: (A) Pre-Katrina/Rita, (B) Katrina/Rita storm, flood, occupation, and removal (evacuation) related abuses, and (C) post-Katrina/Rita.

The charges include:

1. Gross violation of the human right to be free from racial discrimination, including discrimination based upon perceived immigration status;

2. Violation of the human right to return, resettlement and reintegration of internally displaced persons;

3. Violation of the human right to life, human dignity, and recognition as a person;

4. Violation of the human right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment;

5. Violation of the rights to freedom of association and assembly; freedom of movement;

6. Violation of the right to work; right to adequate health care; right to adequate housing;

7. Violation of the right to an adequate standard of living; freedom from poverty; right to education;

8. Violation of the right to vote; electoral rights; right to participate in governance;

9. Violation of the right to a fair trial; right to liberty and security of the person; right to equal protection under the law;

10. Violation of rights related to privacy, family life, and missing relatives.

The Goals

1. To fully expose to the world the human rights abuses committed by the U.S. government and its agencies and operatives in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

2. To attain national and international recognition as Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) for the all the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

3. To attain comprehensive reparations for all Gulf Coast IDP’s (including migrant workers and communities).

4. To strengthen the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Movement and build a broad national and international movement in support of its aims and demands.

5. To hold the U.S. government accountable for its human rights abuses and crimes against Gulf Coast IDPs.

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Our Struggles are Mutual

U.S. is Responsible for the Crimes in the Gulf Coast and the Deadly Occupations of Iraq and Palestine

Arab Resource and Organizing Center of the SF Bay Area

We, as Arabs, write in unity with our Black allies who continue to struggle for justice, restitution, and self-determination across the Gulf Coast and the US. As the local and federal governments persist in a violent and criminal neglect of the Gulf Coast and its displaced residents across the U.S., billions of tax dollars continue to be invested in the illegal occupation and genocide of Iraq and Palestine. We understand these attacks on Black and Arab communities as parallel and interdependent, and understand that our perpetrators and struggles are mutual.

In the past few years alone, over 170 billion U.S. dollars have been spent on the war on Iraq, the Zionist project geared to the destruction of Palestinians, and the War on Lebanon, while the people of New Orleans struggle to maintain basic rights to schools for their children, jobs and housing for their families, and the basic means to return back home since the government’s failure in Hurricane Katrina. FEMA and the Red Cross continue to withhold resources that could re-unite families and communities. Meanwhile authorities enforce the closure on over 5000 functional public housing units amidst a dire crisis in affordable housing in which the rent has quadrupled throughout the city, and New Orleans has turned into a playground for profit-seeking private developers and tourists at the expense of local families who are still dispersed and struggling, with little support to assist their basic needs and return. We understand this as a direct attack on the return of Black and poor communities most impacted by Katrina, and on the self-determined needs of the local community whose rights are the obligation and responsibility of the U.S. government.

We, as Arabs, know of the struggle for self-determination, and we whole heartedly stand behind the demands of Katrina Survivors, as articulated by the First Survivor’s Assembly in Jackson, Mississippi on December 8th-9th 2005, as well as the demands put forth by the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund. As Gulf Coast residents remain dispersed throughout U.S. cities, we remember and maintain our own struggles to return back home. We uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights insistence on the human right to return back home, and hold the U.S. government directly responsible for ensuring that this is made possible and accessible to all Gulf Coast residents.

Nothing can eliminate from our hearts and minds the images of Black New Orleanian’s being deprived of water and shelter by the Red Cross and National Guard, separated from their families on buses as they were forced to relocate to undisclosed cities after days left starving and neglected, and forced out at gunpoint in a time of crisis and urgency. These scenes are too similar to the scenes of starvation and displacement in Palestine and Iraq. And not surprisingly so, as we understand the U.S. government to be directly responsible for the failure of the levees and the subsequent displacement and destruction of Black and poor communities across the Gulf Coast, just as they are responsible for the deadly occupations of Palestine and Iraq, the division and dispersal of our families, and the depletion of our land, livelihood, and resources. We insist that resources invested in the destruction of Arab communities abroad be redirected back to our homes in the U.S. immediately, and that the U.S. government be held accountable to all damages done and all reparations due, both here and abroad.

We, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, fully endorse the demands and actions to hold the U.S. accountable to the Gulf Coast peoples as determined by the International Tribunal on Katrina taking place from August 29th to September 2nd 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana. We stand in solidarity to demand a just community-based reconstruction and the right to return for all those still displaced.

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Peoples’ Justice: the International Tribunal on
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Kali Akuno

If the United States government has its way, it will bury the issue of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And the world will forget the abuses and crimes the government committed in the Gulf Coast. Now, on the second anniversary of their crimes, a coalition of grassroots Gulf Coast organizations and their supporters throughout the world have organized an international tribunal to try the U.S. government, for human rights violations and crimes against humanity.

Why a Tribunal is Necessary

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast leaving death and unparalleled devastation in its wake. The poor Black communities of New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama bore the full weight of the storms and floods. Local, state and federal governments had at least four days advance notice that the levees did not have the capacity to contain mass flooding expected from a category three hurricane. Yet, despite these warnings, the U.S. government had neither prepared for evacuation, nor mobilized to evacuate thousands of people displaced from their homes and left to die on their roofs and in the rubble of the devastation.

In the face of this abandonment, the population of New Orleans took their survival into their own hands and, neighbor to neighbor, attempted to save lives and reach secure ground. In the chaos of their own incompetence and racist rumors, local, state and federal governments sent military and mercenary personnel to New Orleans. They launched a military invasion aimed at removing the Black population and containing a potential rebellion, rather than sending a relief effort. New Orleans became a battle zone between government and mercenary forces seeking to ‘protect’ the white neighborhoods of the city and the surrounding suburbs from the Black masses fleeing the floods and seeking refuge from the disaster and race-induced neglect. Dozens were murdered and arrested by various government forces and mercenaries as the media fueled and justified human rights abuses by their unfounded, and later to be found completely untrue, reports of mass looting and rape.

To this day, the government has produced no accurate count of the number of people killed. What is known is that more than one million, mainly poor Black people, were forcibly dispersed to more than 44 states across the U.S. They herded people onto buses and trains at gunpoint, separating mothers, children, grandmothers and cousins. They uprooted and separated families, friends, neighbors, and support networks and violently ripped apart the social fabric of peoples lives in order to transform the ethnic and racial make up of New Orleans and the region forever.

Over the past two years the U.S. government has fundamentally ignored the plight of the more than one million people directly impacted and displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When the government has been pressed to answer for its actions, it has ducked and dodged and basically washed its hands of any responsibility or liability. When the Army Corp of Engineers acknowledged its responsibility for the faulty and racially discriminatory design and maintenance of the New Orleans levee system, the government has not corrected its errors, nor provided restitution or recourse for its fatal policies. The net result of the systematic policies of intentional neglect and depraved indifference being executed in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is ethnic cleansing of the historic and politically strategic Black communities in the region.

This ethnic cleansing is being conducted through a deliberate and strategic collusion of government and multinational corporations, particularly real estate developers. In complete violation of the human right to return and the statutes on internal displacement adopted by the U.S. government as outlined in its USAID policies, the government has made no policy or financial provisions to return displaced people to their homes and communities. Delays in rehabilitating and refortifying the regions infrastructure, including the levees and the provision of utilities like water and power, and services like health care and education have, by design, prevented people from exercising their right to return. Then there is the diversion, mismanagement, profiteering by disaster capitalists and delay of relief and restorative aid by agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross. These are compounded by a ruthless application of neo-liberal free-market logic and policy and systemic racism in the insurance, mortgage, and other money lending industries that deny financial resources to Black and working class families to repair their homes, purchase new ones, or make down payments on rentals. Add to this skyrocketing and super-exploitative rents, the hyper-promotion of gentrification, the demonization and criminalization of Black youth and the homelessness, and an oppressive military occupation in New Orleans and the results are the massive depopulation of the Black community in New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulf Port and other devastated cities and regions in the Gulf Coast with concentrated Black populations. In New Orleans a mere 35 percent of its pre-Katrina Black population has returned and resettled over the course of two years. [Before Katrina New Orleans was about 70 percent African American.]

This ethnic cleansing cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. If they get away with it in New Orleans — after the tragic consequences of deeply entrenched racism horrified both national and international audiences — the gentrification and ethnic cleansing of other communities will accelerate. Where the U.S. government refuses to hold itself accountable or allow itself to be tried for its repressive policies and human rights violations within its own courts, its victims have a responsibility to seek justice themselves. As an expression of the will of the peoples of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast for justice, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) and the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition (MDRC) have organized the International Tribunal and called on the international community for solidarity and an impartial hearing. It is only by thoroughly exposing the human rights abuses and inhumane policies of the U.S. government before the world, and isolating it on this basis, that the displaced and dispossessed peoples of the Gulf Coast will attain the recognition, restitution, and justice they so deserve.

What human rights abuses and crimes is the U.S. government being demanded to account for at the Tribunal?

To expose the U.S. government and bring it to account, there are several critical questions that must and will be posed at the Tribunal to reveal the true depth of the crimes committed and the utter disdain exhibited for Black life. A sampling of these questions include:

1. Why did it take five days for the U.S. government to implement an evacuation in New Orleans? Who where the individuals and institutions responsible for this delay in humanitarian relief?

2. Why were no ready-response evacuation and medical teams in place to deal with the calculated damage of Hurricane Katrina? Who was responsible for the organization and deployment of these teams and resources? Why weren’t they prepared and deployed?

3. Why was no independent investigation of the Industrial Canal and its levee system permitted?

4. Why were survivors forcibly removed and dispersed from New Orleans to over 44 states in the U.S.? Who determined who went where and why?

5. Why were “shoot to kill orders” given in New Orleans? What authority did Governor Blanco have to issue these orders?

6. Why were Black survivors forcibly denied safe escape entry into the city of Gretna and the suburbs surrounding New Orleans?

7. Why were white survivors often separated and removed from Black survivors during the evacuation and relief operations? Who mandated this policy and treatment? What purpose did this policy serve?

8. Why were mercenary and foreign soldiers operating in New Orleans during and after the flood? Who authorized their use? By what authority and under what jurisdiction were they employed?

9. Why were curfews and quarantines implemented at evacuation centers throughout the U.S.? Who were the authorities and institutions responsible for these orders?

10. Why was the Davis-Bacon Act suspended? Why were no bid contracts awarded during the first phase of the reconstruction process?

Similar questions can and will be raised regarding the treatment of women, youth, the elderly, the infirm, migrants and other vulnerable groups, and as it regards to the rights of oppressed nationalities, indigenous peoples, the right to vote and to freely assemble, the right to food, housing, health care, and education – all of which have been systematically violated by the U.S. government. […]

Kali Akuno is Executive Director, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and National Organizer, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

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Impeachment Actions Continue to Increase Nationwide

People Demand: Hold Bush and Cheney Accountable
for their Crimes!

Across the country, actions to impeach President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney continue to increase, with more villages, towns, cities, and states joining impeachment efforts.

People are outraged at the numerous crimes committed by Bush and his gang: the illegal and unjust wars against Iraq and Afghanistan; illegal spying; secret detentions and torture; kidnappings; usurping the power of Congress and the courts; and lie after lie after lie. People are demanding accountability and an end to government impunity.

Some of the more recent actions on the impeachment front include a vote by the Telluride Town Council in Telluride, Colorado to impeach the president and vice president. Almost everyone in the town is in favor of impeachment. One activist collected about 100 signatures in favor of impeachment in several hours in downtown Telluride. Telluride became the first town in Colorado to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Counting Telluride, 85 towns, counties, and cities have passed similar ordinances, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Detroit, Michigan.

The Portland, Maine council recently voted 4-2 in favor of impeaching Bush and Cheney, but because 5 votes are needed for a majority the issue will be taken up again at the next council meeting (full text of the resolution below). In May, MaineImpeach.org delivered a petition to the state Legislature asking lawmakers to demand a Congressional investigation (state resolutions are one of the ways to force government action on impeachment, under the traditional rules of Congress).

In Hampstead, Maryland a group of protesters organized a two-hour “Honk for Impeachment” rally in 90-degree weather on Main Street and Gill Avenue (a busy intersection). The honks and horn blasts from cars and trucks pierced the air at a rate of about two per minute. A similar rally was held the week before in Westminster.

At the end of April a nationwide day of protest in towns and cities across the country was organized in more than 125 locations from Miami, Florida to Alaska. All demanded the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. In San Francisco hundreds participated in five impeachment-themed events held on April 27 and April 28. Also in April, Vermont state senators voted to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in what officials say was the first such vote by state lawmakers in the country.

On July 4 activists from D.C. and across the country rallied in Washington to demand the impeachment of Bush and Cheney and to deliver petitions bearing tens of thousands of signatures in support of impeachment. Over the July 7-8 weekend, people made “Impeach Cheney” the number 1 video on YouTube! And in July, a polling company asked Americans if they want Cheney impeached. A majority of 54 percent said Yes.

In Congress, more than 20 members of Congress have engaged in or are considering actions to impeach Bush and Cheney. On August 3, U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin became the sixteenth member of the House and the fourth member of the House Judiciary Committee to agree to co-sponsor House Resolution 333, the proposal by U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney. Last week Congressman Kucinich accepted petitions from more than 100,000 people calling on Congress to impeach Bush and Cheney. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi maintains her opposition to the demands of the people for impeachment.

A growing network of organizations and individuals are continually exploring ways and means to facilitate the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Actions are expanding and becoming more creative and determined. Many are demanding that candidates take a pledge to call for impeachment, just as they are pledging to end the Iraq war and oppose all aggressive wars.

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300 States, Cities and Towns Oppose Iraq Occupation and Costs to Their Cities and Communities

Congressional Progressive Caucus

Elected officials from states, cities, and towns across America are coming to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, July 31 to present their resolutions against the Iraq war to the White House and Congress and demand faster action in ending the war.

At 2 pm, in Rayburn, Room 2226, Representatives Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, and Maxine Waters and other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Out of Iraq Caucus will hold a news conference and hear informal testimony from local and state elected officials about the local costs of the on-going Iraq occupation.

Since President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003, 300 states, cities and towns have passed resolutions or voted on referenda to bring the troops home. A cross-section of state, municipal, and local elected officials from 20 of these states, cities and towns will also hold a press conference at the National Press Club at 12 pm on July 31st, then march to the White House to deliver their resolutions, offer testimony to Members of Congress, and visit Senators from their home states. […]

Key Facts about the resolutions and referenda:

1. The roughly 250 cities and towns that have passed resolutions and referenda against the war are in 20 states across the country. For a list, go to: www.citiesforpeace.org

2. In 4 states, referenda opposing the war have been passed on ballots in dozens of towns and cities: Massachusetts, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

3. The biggest cities passing resolutions are Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Seattle. At the other end of the population spectrum, there are a number of tiny towns that have passed resolutions, particularly in rural Vermont and Wisconsin.

4. Since the war began, 17 states have either passed a House and/or Senate Resolution or have sent letters to Congress signed by large numbers of the state legislature. These include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, -Minnesota, New Hampshire, New -Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

5. While the resolutions, letters and referenda all have language particular to their community or state, there are common threads to most of them. Many object to the tremendous loss of innocent Iraqi lives and the environmental and societal degradation of Iraq caused by this war. Many call either for a timetable for withdrawal or immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Most condemn the lost lives and misspent billions of dollars that have gone into this war. Most bemoan the “opportunity costs” to their own communities, i.e. how the money could have been better spent at home for crucial social and economic needs. Many condemn what they see as lies and misleading statements that led the United States into the war. Many condemn the no-bid corporate contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq. Many decry the loss of their own National Guard and Reservists and the resources to fight national disasters at home. A number oppose what they see as violations of international law in the prosecution of the war.

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Proposed Resolution For The Portland City Council

A Resolution Of The Portland, Maine City Council Petitioning The U.S. House Of Representatives to Commence the Investigation of and Impeachment Proceedings Against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney.

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, in violation of their oaths of office, which read: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of (Vice) President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”, in their conduct while President and Vice President of the United States have demonstrated a pattern of abuse of office and disregard for the Constitution of the United States.

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney intentionally misled Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war and conspired with others to do so; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have caused this Nation to commence a war in violation of treaties adopted by the United States including the Nuremberg Charter and the U.N. Charter which prohibits one nation from using force against another except in self-defense or if authorized by the U.N. Security Council; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney committed, permitted or authorized the torture of prisoners, or conspired with others to do so, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Chapter 113C, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Geneva Convention; and

WHEREAS, the above-mentioned treaties adopted by the United States under Article VI of the United States Constitution are part of the “supreme law of the land,” the President and Vice President are obligated to faithfully execute the laws, and they have intentionally and willfully failed to do so; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50 United States Code, Section 1805 and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Vice President Richard B. Cheney conspired in the authorization and conduct of such actions; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney acted to strip United States citizens of their constitutional rights by ordering the indefinite detention of citizens arbitrarily designated as “enemy combatants,” without access to legal counsel, without charge and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, all in subversion of existing law; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have unlawfully refused to comply, or cause others under their direction to comply, with subpoenas issued by the United States Congress in the conduct of lawful Congressional investigations; and

WHEREAS, in all of this, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have acted in a manner contrary to their trust as president and vice president, subverting constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of Portland and of the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, petitions from the country at large may be presented by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, according to Clause 3 of House Rule XII; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Congress, and our representatives and senators in the United States Congress in particular, be, and they hereby are, requested to cause to be instituted in the Congress of the United States proper proceedings for the investigation of the activities of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, to the end that they may be impeached and removed from their offices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the City of Portland, Maine be instructed to certify and transmit to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, under the great seal of the City of Portland, Maine, a copy of this resolution as adopted. The copies shall be marked with the word “Petition” at the top of the document and contain the original authorizing signature of the City.

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Summary of the Impeachment Process

1. Impeachment proceedings can be initiated in a number of ways, but all rely on existing government bodies and the proceedings must be initiated in the House of Representatives. People can and have petitioned Congress, with an estimated one million signatures so far, for impeachment. It can also be initiated at the request of state legislatures, passing resolutions for this purpose, another arena where organizing efforts are taking place. It can also be initiated through legislation passed by Congress. Most commonly, either through bills that must be passed by the Committee before going to the House floor for debate, or through its own initiative, the House Judiciary Committee begins impeachment proceedings. It is for this reason that the Committee has been a focus of various impeachment actions.

2. Before taking a final vote on whether to impeach a president, the House can vote to authorize its Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment inquiry. This is sometimes used as a tactic to secure more support, as an inquiry is not at the same level as an impeachment — it may or may not give rise to impeachment. However, in conducting such an inquiry, the Judiciary Committee can hold stage hearings, require testimony and draw up articles of impeachment.

3. Under the Constitution, the House must vote on articles of impeachment. A simple majority vote can impeach the president. Legally, the impeachment by the House is similar to an indictment, not a conviction. The actual decision to convict and a trial for such action is conducted by the Senate. A two-thirds majority vote is necessary for conviction and removal from office. Former President Bill Clinton, for example, was impeached by the House but not convicted by the Senate.

4. The Senate conducts the trial. A prosecution team assembled by the House presents the evidence. A legal defense team represents the president or vice-president or other officials of the executive branch facing impeachment. The chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over the trial. Normally the vice president presides over the Senate, but he must step aside under the Constitution because he would replace the president if senators vote for conviction. At the end of the trial, the Senate would likely allow senators to debate each article of impeachment before taking a vote for or against impeachment.

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