¶ … Realities of Impeachment Impeachment is not necessarily a common occurrence among federal officials. Still, impeachment proceedings and formal impeachment does take place. It is probably more accurate to state that the impeachment of federal officials is not uncommon, as opposed to stating that it is common for these individuals to get impeached. What is probably more common than either of these two statements is that federal officials do labor under the threat of impeachment. In this regard, impeachment is actually something of an addition to the systems of checks and balances that govern our country. Federal officials realize that they are held accountable to the American people to do their jobs in accordance with propriety. If they do not, they can always get impeached. Therefore, the daunting reality that those who do not perform their jobs up to standard might get impeached certainly helps to influence the behavior and actions of federal officials. Working under the threat of impeachment is certainly a common occurrence for these public servants.

The federal official who was most recently impeached is G. Thomas Porteous Jr. Porteus Jr. is a former judge of the U.S. District Court in Louisiana who was impeached for...

Some of the parties that he was guilty of lying to as a judge include various members of the Senate as well as the FBI (CNN, 2015). Due to his penchant for accepting bribes and lying to officials about, the former judge was brought up for impeachment on charges of corruption. It is not acceptable for federal officials to influence their opinions and behavior in their federal duties based on the interests of private or public groups that pay them. Porteus Jr., however, transgressed this boundary. Additionally, it is not acceptable for federal officials to lie about their involvement in such matters. Doing so is not only grounds for impeachment proceedings but, as the case of Porteus Jr. indicates, impeachment itself.
After watching "Chaney's Law" I unequivocally believe that Dick Cheney and other officials in the Bush presidency should get impeached. The reason why is that Chaney made a number of unprecedented and illicit maneuvers to expand executive power. In doing so, however, he circumnavigated the conventional system of checks and balances, which were set up to circumscribe such authority. Such maneuvering violates the trust of the American people and is unworthy of the…