How do House impeachment procedures work and what majority is required at each stage?
Executive summary
The House of Representatives initiates impeachment through a flexible set of procedures—ranging from a formal floor resolution to a committee-led inquiry—and ultimately requires only a simple majority to adopt articles of impeachment and “impeach” an official [1] [2] [3]. Removal from office, however, is not a House decision: conviction in the Senate requires a two‑thirds vote of Senators present, while disqualification from future office has historically been treated as a separate, simple‑majority question in the Senate [4] [5] [3].
1. How impeachment is started: multiple entry points, no constitutional checklist
Impeachment may be seeded by a member’s resolution, a committee referral, a message, or evidence developed in committee; the Constitution gives the House latitude to design the path and does not mandate a formal inquiry before articles are moved [6] [7]. Legal scholars emphasize that the House need only produce articles supported by a majority; whether the chamber holds a formalized “inquiry” is a political choice, not a constitutional requirement [1] [7].
2. The investigative phase: committees, evidence, and varying rules
Investigations are typically conducted by one or more House committees (commonly Judiciary, Oversight, Intelligence), which gather evidence, hear witnesses, and deliberate; the Judiciary Committee often drafts the articles but the House’s own rules determine procedures and evidentiary practices [8] [5]. Committees vote by majority to report articles or a resolution to the floor, and those internal votes are procedural, not determinative of final impeachment—only the full House vote matters to impeach [5] [9].
3. Reporting and privileged consideration: how articles reach the floor
When a committee reports articles of impeachment, the resolution is treated as privileged and can be called up for immediate consideration on the House floor, meaning the majority controls the timing and often the terms of debate; the House can also set different procedures by unanimous consent or other internal motions [5]. The chamber’s majority can use motions—such as ordering the previous question—to limit amendments or debate, underscoring that internal House rules shape the path from committee report to floor vote [5].
4. The House floor vote: what constitutes “impeachment” and the majority needed
Each article of impeachment is presented to the full House and requires a simple majority vote to be adopted—commonly described as a majority of those present and voting, or in practice a majority of the House if all members vote; adoption of any article constitutes formal impeachment [1] [10] [9]. Authoritative guides and government pages consistently state that a simple majority in the House is sufficient to impeach and send articles to the Senate [2] [11].
5. What the House does after impeachment: managers and transmission to the Senate
Once articles pass, the House typically appoints managers to prosecute the case before the Senate and transmits the articles; the Senate then has “the sole Power to try all Impeachments” and conducts the trial under its own rules [12] [4]. How vigorously the House pursues and frames charges is political: scholars note impeachment will sometimes be partisan because the constitutional text leaves definitions and procedures to congressional actors [7] [6].
6. The Senate stage and separate majorities for conviction and disqualification
Conviction in the Senate requires the concurrence of two‑thirds of Senators present, a supermajority that effects removal from office; by contrast, disqualification from future federal office has historically been treated as a separate vote requiring only a simple majority in the Senate, though the textual and precedent bases for that practice are debated [4] [3]. The Senate’s rules can also control trial procedures, and some procedural steps in the Senate can require different thresholds (e.g., cloture), but the two‑thirds rule for conviction is constitutional [5] [4].
7. Political reality and legal limits: discretion, precedent, and uncertainty
The House’s power to impeach is intentionally broad and discretionary—“whatever a majority of the House…considers”—so political judgment and institutional rules drive the process more than fixed legal standards; commentators and legal analyses note that debates over whether to authorize or formalize an inquiry reflect political strategy rather than constitutional necessity [6] [7]. Reporting and institutional guides document the mechanics and thresholds, but they also underline areas of contested practice such as whether the House must hold a separate authorization vote for an inquiry and how the Senate treats disqualification [7] [3].