Studies in Civics Part 60

The secretary of the senate corresponds to the clerk of the court, and the sergeant-at-arms corresponds to the sheriff in an ordinary court.

"On the final question whether the impeachment is sustained, the yeas and nays shall be taken on each article of impeachment separately; and if the impeachment shall not, upon any of the articles presented, be sustained by the votes of two-thirds of the members present, a judgment of acquittal shall be entered; but if the person accused in such articles of impeachment shall be convicted upon any of said articles by the votes of two-thirds of the members present, the senate shall proceed to p.r.o.nounce judgment, and a certified copy of such judgment shall be deposited in the office of the secretary of state." [Footnote: Manual of the United States Senate.] Only seven cases of impeachment before the U.S. senate have occurred. To save s.p.a.ce they are shown in tabular form:

Time Name. Office. Charge. Result.

1798 William Blount. U.S. Senator Intrigues with Case dismissed; from Tennessee. Indians. not an "officer"

1803 John Pickering. U.S. district Intemperance Removed from judge, N.H. and malfeasance office.[1]

in office.

1804 Samuel Chase. a.s.sociate Just. Partiality and Acquitted.[1]

U.S. Sup. Ct. injustice.

1830 James Peck. U.S. district Abuse of power. Acquitted.

judge, Mo.

1860 West W. U.S. district Treason in Removed and Humphreys judge, Tenn. advocating and disqualified.

aiding secession.

1868 Andrew Johnson. President of the Violation of Acquitted by United States. Tenure of one vote.

Office act and other crimes.

1876 William W. Sec'y of war. Malfeasance in Acquitted.

Belknap. office and accepting bribes.

[Footnote 1: See Thomas Jefferson, American Statesmen Series, pp. 259-63.]

HOW UNITED STATES SENATORS ARE ELECTED.

"The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof."--Const.i.tution, I. 3: 1.

The time of this election is the second Tuesday after the meeting and organization of the legislature. If a vacancy occurs in the senate during the session of the legislature, the election occurs on the second Tuesday after notice of the vacancy is received by the legislature.

On the day appointed, the roll of each house being called, each member responds by naming one person for the senatorship. The result of the vote is entered on the journal of each house by the clerk thereof.

The next day at noon, the members of both houses convene in joint a.s.sembly, and the journal of each house is read. If the same person has received a majority of all the votes in each house, he is declared elected.

But if no person has received such majority, the joint a.s.sembly proceeds to choose, by _viva voce_ vote of each member present, a person for senator. A quorum consists of a majority of each house, and a majority of those present and voting is necessary to a choice.

If no one receives such majority on the first day, the joint a.s.sembly meets daily at noon, and takes at least one vote, until a senator is elected.

A certificate of election is made out by the governor, countersigned and authenticated under seal of the state by the secretary of state, and forwarded to the president of the senate of the United States.

HOW THE ELECTORAL VOTE IS COUNTED.

"The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the vote shall then be counted."--Const.i.tution, Amendment XII.

The const.i.tution gives no directions as to the manner of counting. No trouble was experienced, however, until the Hayes-Tilden election. The result of this election depended upon the votes of three states, each of which sent in two conflicting sets of certificates. There being no legal provision for the settlement of such disputes, the famous electoral commission was created to determine which certificates should be counted.

It consisted of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of the supreme court.

The gravity of the danger thus revealed made it obviously necessary that some general plan be devised whereby such disputes might be obviated.

Though consideration of the subject began at once, and various measures were from time to time proposed, no satisfactory solution was presented until February 3, 1887, when the Electoral Count Bill was pa.s.sed and received the signature of the president.

An outline of the bill is here given, the princ.i.p.al provisions being the second and sixth as here numbered.

1. The electors shall meet and vote on the second Monday in January following their election. [Footnote: The time of meeting had been the first Wednesday in December. The change was made to give time for the settlement of any disputes, as provided in the second section.]

2. If there be any disputes as to the choice of the electors, they are to be settled in the respective states in the way that each state shall determine, provided that the laws governing the matter shall have been pa.s.sed before the election, and that disputes shall have been settled at least six days before the time fixed for the meeting of the electors. A report of the contest and its mode of settlement shall be made by the governor, and forwarded under seal to the secretary of state of the United States.

3. As soon as practicable after it shall have been ascertained who have been chosen electors, the executive of the state shall transmit under the seal of the state to the secretary of state of the United States the names of the electors, with an abstract of the popular vote for each candidate for elector. The executive shall also deliver to the electors, on or before the day of meeting, three copies of said certificate, one of which the electors shall enclose with each "list of persons voted for as president and vice-president."

4. As soon as practicable after receiving the certificates as aforesaid, the secretary of state shall publish them in full in such newspaper as he shall designate; and at the first meeting of congress thereafter he shall transmit to each house a copy in full of each certificate received.

5. The counting of the vote will take place, as heretofore, on the second Wednesday in February following the meeting of the electors. At one o'clock in the afternoon the senate and house of representatives meet in the hall of the house of representatives, and the president of the senate takes the chair.

"Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the senate and two on the part of the house of representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the president of the senate, all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical order of the states, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers, having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted in the manner and according to the rules in this act provided the result of the same shall be delivered to the president of the senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any, elected president and vice-president of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the journals of the two houses."

6. Upon the reading of each certificate the president of the senate asks whether there be any objections to it. Objection must be made in writing, and must "state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof." To ent.i.tle it to consideration, the objection must be signed by at least one senator and one representative.

When all the objections to any paper have been received and read, the senate withdraws, and the two houses proceed separately to consider them.

If from any state but one set of electors are certified, and the certification has been done as prescribed in section three, the certificate cannot be rejected. But if not properly certified, the two houses acting concurrently "may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by those whose appointment has been so certified."

If more than one return has been received from any state, those votes only shall be counted which have been determined as provided in section two.

If two or more returns appear, each certified by authorities claiming to be the lawful tribunal of the state, the vote shall be counted which the two houses, acting separately, "concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such state so authorized by its laws."

If more than one return comes in from any state, no determination such as is prescribed in section two having been made, the two houses concurrently decide which, if any, of the votes shall be counted. If in such a case the houses disagree, the votes of those electors shall be counted whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the state.

When the case in question has been disposed of, the joint session is resumed and the counting continued.

7. In the joint meeting, the president of the senate has authority to preserve order. No debate is allowed, and no question can be put, "except to either house on a motion to withdraw."

8. When discussing an objection, in separate session, no member can speak more than once, and then for not longer than five minutes. The entire time for discussion is limited to two hours.

9. Provision is made for the seating of every one ent.i.tled to a seat on the floor of the house; and the act declares that "such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes shall be completed and the result declared."

Some time after the pa.s.sage of the law, it was discovered that a strange omission had been made. By the old law, the electors in each state were required to appoint a messenger to take one of the certificates of votes cast, and deliver it to the president of the senate on or before the _first Wednesday_ in January. By the new law the electors do not meet until the _second Monday_ in January. The inconsitency was remedied, however, by a supplementary act, providing that certificates shall be forwarded "as soon as possible," and authorizing the president of the senate to send for missing certificates on the fourth Monday in January.

HOW FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE ARE EXTRADITED.

Extradition is "the delivering up to justice of fugitive criminals by the authorities of one state or country to those of another." [Footnote: Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science.]

The duty of extradition between the states of this republic is imposed by the federal const.i.tution, IV. 2; and the mode of procedure is prescribed by an act of congress pa.s.sed in 1793. The term "other crimes" used in the const.i.tution is generally interpreted "so as to include any offense against the laws of the state or territory making the demand." On the question whether the executive upon whom demand is made is bound to comply, the federal courts have decided that his duty in the matter is imperative; that he must deliver up the fugitive, unless the accused shall also be under prosecution for breach of the laws of the state to which he has fled.

The procedure is this: "The accused must be indicted in the state in which the crime was committed, or a charge must be brought against him before a magistrate, who, if satisfied that the charge is true, issues a warrant for the arrest of the criminal. A copy of the indictment or affidavit is forwarded to the executive of the state, and he issues to the executive of the state to which the fugitive has gone, a requisition for his surrender.

If the executive upon whom the requisition is made is satisfied that the papers are regular and the proof of the crime sufficient," he issues a warrant "for the arrest and delivery of the accused to the agent of the state making the demand."