President Pence?

[SassyLady]

Hypothetically, if Trump is removed through impeachment Pence becomes new President, right?

Can he then pick Trump to be his VP and then step down making Trump president again? And, then Trump picks him for VP.

Is there legislation to keep this from happening?

[CSM]

Hypothetically, if Trump is removed through impeachment Pence becomes new President, right?

Can he then pick Trump to be his VP and then step down making Trump president again? And, then Trump picks him for VP.

Is there legislation to keep this from happening?

Yep. If impeached and removed, then he is barred from holding any federal office henceforth. That's what I read anyway. I will try to find the source ....

[CSM]

Reference:

https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/1/essays/18/punishment-for-impeachment

[Gunny]

Hypothetically, if Trump is removed through impeachment Pence becomes new President, right?

Can he then pick Trump to be his VP and then step down making Trump president again? And, then Trump picks him for VP.

Is there legislation to keep this from happening?Every time the mere thought of Pence as President sneaks into my head I immediately think of something -- ANYTHING -- else :)

That IS probably the only hope the Dems have for 2020.

[fj1200]

Yep. If impeached and removed, then he is barred from holding any federal office henceforth. That's what I read anyway. I will try to find the source ....

Actually being barred from holding federal office is not automatic. It's at the option of the Senate after they convict. See Alcee Hastings.


Is there legislation to keep this from happening?

Good sense and the 25th amendment, Section 2.


Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

After being convicted by 2/3 I'm sure the Senate would not put him right back in let alone the House letting him through.

[CSM]

Actually being barred from holding federal office is not automatic. It's at the option of the Senate after they convict. See Alcee Hastings.



Good sense and the 25th amendment, Section 2.



After being convicted by 2/3 I'm sure the Senate would not put him right back in let alone the House letting him through.

Yep, but it seems to me if the Senate convicts and removes said president from office (high crimes and misdemeanors) they would ensure he/she would never hold public office ever again. Then again, in these crazy times, who knows?

[fj1200]

Yep, but it seems to me if the Senate convicts and removes said president from office (high crimes and misdemeanors) they would ensure he/she would never hold public office ever again. Then again, in these crazy times, who knows?

Truly, and depends on how high the crime I suppose.

[jimnyc]

I saw a thread that started out as a meme about this on Facebook, from some die hard Trump supporters. And as I read on I realized they were not only dead serious, but with links and all convinced one another that this could and would happen if he were impeached.

I would ask first like Sassy did and come to conclusions before being dead set, and posting links as if it were factual.

It's probably one of the first things they dealt with, in dealing with ensuring someone doesn't come back quite that easily.

.. BUT, like fj pointed out, then you have Alcee Hastings, who, well lets ust say the wiki writeup on it leaves me shaking my head and dumbfounded. Impeached 413-3 in the House, and then convicted in the senate. But a little more to it from the courts then...


In 1981, Hastings was charged with accepting a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a lenient sentence and a return of seized assets for 21 counts of racketeering by Frank and Thomas Romano, and of perjury in his testimony about the case. In 1983, Hastings was acquitted by a jury after his alleged co-conspirator, William Borders, refused to testify in court, resulting in a jail sentence for Borders.[5]

In 1988, the Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives took up the case, and Hastings was impeached for bribery and perjury by a vote of 413–3. He was then convicted on October 20, 1989, by the United States Senate, becoming the sixth federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed from office by the Senate. The Senate, in two hours of roll calls, voted on 11 of the 17 articles of impeachment. It convicted Hastings of eight of the 11 articles. The vote on the first article was 69 for and 26 opposed.[1]

Alleged co-conspirator attorney William Borders went to jail again for refusing to testify in the impeachment proceedings, but was later given a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on his last day in office.[6]

Hastings filed suit in federal court claiming that his impeachment trial was invalid because he was tried by a Senate committee, not in front of the full Senate, and that he had been acquitted in a criminal trial. Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in favor of Hastings, remanding the case to the Senate, but stayed his ruling pending the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court in a similar case regarding Judge Walter Nixon, who had also been impeached and removed.[7]

Sporkin found some "crucial distinctions"[8] between Nixon's case and Hastings's – specifically, that Nixon had been convicted criminally, and that Hastings was not found guilty by two-thirds of the committee who actually "tried" his impeachment in the Senate. He added that Hastings had a right to trial by the full Senate.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled in Nixon v. United States that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over Senate impeachment matters, so Sporkin's ruling was vacated and Hastings's conviction and removal were upheld

And then, just a few years later...


Hastings attempted to make a political comeback by running for Secretary of State of Florida, campaigning on a platform of legalizing casinos. In a three-way Democratic primary, he placed second with 33% of the vote, behind newspaper columnist Jim Minter's 38% of the vote. In the runoff, which saw a large dropoff in turnout, Minter defeated Hastings, 67%–33%. Hastings won just one of Florida's 67 counties: Miami-Dade

Then in 1993...


Elections
Hastings was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1992, representing Florida's 23rd district. After placing second in the initial Democratic primary for the post, he scored an upset victory over state representative Lois J. Frankel in the runoff and went on to easily win election in the heavily Democratic district. He has not faced a serious challenge for reelection since. After redistricting, Hastings has represented Florida's 20th district since January 2013.

And this man sits in office today. Impeached 413-3 and then convicted ------ but was he saved because he didn't get the full senate?

And my last question would be - since the supreme court made that decision, does that now mean all future senate things are off limit to the courts? But I'm also confident of 2 things - that somehow they either keep this out of the senate and chicken out - or if/when they do bring it to the senate, they surely won't be making THAT same mistake!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcee_Hastings#Allegations_and_impeachment