Trial By A Jury Of 100
If the House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton this week, Americans can look forward to a trial in the Senate in early 1999.
CBS News Legal Correspondent Kristin Jeannette-Meyers reports that once the House officially delivers Articles of Impeachment to the upper chamber, the Senate must work every day except Sunday until it finishes its work.
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A Senate trial would look very much like a typical criminal case, with one big difference: a jury of 100.
Like jurors, the senators are sworn in and remain silent during the trial until it's time to give the verdict. If a senator has a question, he can write it down in a note to the judge, who in this case would be Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The judge decides if the question is proper.
The prosecutors are called managers and are Republican members of the House. The managers present the case against the president and call witnesses. The president's defense lawyers can cross-examine any witness the prosecutors call, and can call witnesses of their own.
The judge has a lot of discretion in this case, and the only precedent, the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, took place more than 100 years ago.
Rehnquist has written a book about impeachment, indicating he views it as similar to a criminal case in terms of admitting evidence.
Conviction of the president - which would mean his removal from office - would require the votes of two-thirds of the senators. This means that even if all 55 of the Republicans vote for conviction, the votes of at least 12 Democrats are needed to remove the president from office.
There is one other interesting rule: at any time, a simple majority, or 51 of the senators, can vote to end the trial completely.