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Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump”
Please note: This is a special edition of our Lesson of the Day feature, which is usually intended to take just one class period.
You may choose to take on only the warm-up, which aims to help students understand what impeachment is and how the process works.
If you have more time, the main article explores what happened on Sept. 24, and why it could usher in “the beginning of a remarkable new chapter in American political life.”
Finally, we ask students to formulate their own opinions: When should a president be impeached? If you were a member of the House of Representatives, would you support the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump?
Warm Up: Understanding What Impeachment Means and How It Happens
To understand what happened on Tuesday, you must first understand what it means to impeach.
The Constitution permits Congress to remove presidents before their term is up if enough lawmakers vote to say that they committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” (A “high crime” means an abuse of power by a high-level public official.)
Watch the short video above to learn more about how that happens, then answer these questions:
What’s the difference between being impeached and being convicted?
What has to happen to convict a president?
Has that ever happened before?
Next, check out this Times article, “The Impeachment Process, Explained.” Scroll to the chart under “How the Impeachment Process Could Play Out.” In your own words, explain both scenarios:
Now that you understand more about the impeachment process, what do you know about why Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that the House will begin a formal impeachment inquiry of Mr. Trump? What will they be investigating?
Make a list of the questions you have, since, in the next part of this lesson, you will be reading an article that may be able to help you answer most of them.
Questions for Writing and Discussion: Understanding What Happened on Sept. 24 and Why
Please note: These questions cover the basics of the news as outlined in the first 25 short paragraphs of this article. (If reading online, our questions extend up to the photo of Representative Jerrold Nadler.)
1. Who is Nancy Pelosi, and what did she announce on Tuesday? With what is she charging President Trump?
2. Why might her announcement usher in “the beginning of a remarkable new chapter in American political life”? Why is it so “high stakes” for both Republicans and Democrats?
3. For the past two years, talk of impeachment had centered around the findings of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections and Mr. Trump’s attempts to derail that inquiry. But on Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi said that new revelations left the House “no choice” but to impeach. What are those new revelations? (Note: To learn about the allegations in more detail, see this article.)
4. What happens next? What are the “many unanswered questions” about exactly when and how Democrats plan to push forward on the impeachment process?
5. How has Mr. Trump reacted to this news? How have other Republicans responded?
