What specific actions by a vice president have historically led to impeachment proceedings in the U.S?
Executive summary
No vice president of the United States has ever been impeached by the House of Representatives, though the Constitution explicitly makes the vice president removable by impeachment for “treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” and multiple political and quasi-judicial efforts to investigate or to draft articles have arisen over two centuries [1] [2] [3]. Examining those episodes shows that allegations range from corruption and bribery to abuse of power and policy disagreements, but none produced a completed impeachment conviction in the Senate or even a House impeachment vote against a sitting vice president [4] [5].
1. The legal standard: what actions qualify for impeachment of a vice president
The constitutional baseline is clear: the vice president, like the president and all civil officers, is subject to impeachment and removal for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, and the House has the sole power to bring charges while the Senate tries them [1] [6] [2]. The Framers deliberately included the vice president in Article II, Section 4 and built procedural safeguards—such as having the Chief Justice preside over presidential trials—to avoid conflicts of interest tied to the vice president’s regular role presiding over the Senate [7] [2]. What counts as “high crimes and misdemeanors” has been and remains a political and legal judgment, not a closed statutory list [2].
2. Historical reality: no vice president has been impeached, despite attempts
Despite the constitutional authority and more than sixty-plus impeachment inquiries historically, the House’s actual impeachment actions have overwhelmingly targeted judges and presidents; the official House lists do not include any vice presidents as impeached individuals, and scholarly summaries confirm the rarity of executive-branch impeachments outside the presidency [3] [5]. Efforts to impeach or investigate vice presidents have occurred as political moves or investigative requests, but none culminated in a House impeachment and Senate conviction of a sitting vice president [4] [5].
3. Representative episodes: investigations, threats and symbolic resolutions
Past episodes cited in scholarly and archival materials include a range of pre‑impeachment maneuvers: nineteenth‑century episodes in which figures like John C. Calhoun sought or faced inquiries; the 20th‑century experience around Vice President Spiro Agnew, who sought an impeachment inquiry as a tactical option during a federal criminal investigation—Agnew ultimately resigned amid a plea rather than being impeached; and modern partisan resolutions that aim to register disapproval rather than to secure removal, such as a 2021 resolution introduced against Vice President Kamala Harris that was referred to committee and saw no substantive action [4] [8]. These examples show that allegations prompting impeachment talk have included bribery and corruption, claims of abuse of authority, and even policy-based complaints, but outcomes were shaped by criminal proceedings, resignations, or congressional inaction [8] [4].
4. Why impeachment threats against vice presidents generally fail to advance
Practical and political barriers make vice presidential impeachment uncommon: the House historically uses impeachment primarily against judges and, in extraordinary cases, presidents; bringing successful articles requires a majority in the House and two‑thirds in the Senate to convict, a high bar that discourages purely partisan or symbolic efforts from proceeding [5] [6]. Additionally, criminal investigations or resignations (as with Agnew) or the passage of time and jurisdictional questions (as in certain 19th‑century claims) have often rendered impeachment unnecessary or politically impractical [8] [4].
5. Reading between the lines: partisanship, symbolism, and the record’s limits
The historical record and official compilations show impeachment power exercised unevenly, and attempts targeting vice presidents have frequently served partisan or signaling functions rather than realistic paths to removal; contemporary calls for impeachment or 25th‑Amendment removals often reflect political leverage more than imminent legal peril [9] [10]. Sources used here document constitutional authority and list efforts, but do not uniformly catalogue every informal threat or committee inquiry into a vice president, so this account relies on official House/Senate histories and summarized lists that emphasize formal actions over informal political pressure [11] [3] [4].