<P> Also, the House will adopt a resolution in order to notify the Senate of its action . After receiving the notice, the Senate will adopt an order notifying the House that it is ready to receive the managers . The House managers then appear before the bar of the Senate and exhibit the articles of impeachment . After the reading of the charges, the managers return and make a verbal report to the House . </P> <P> The proceedings unfold in the form of a trial, with each side having the right to call witnesses and perform cross-examinations . The House members, who are given the collective title of managers during the course of the trial, present the prosecution case, and the impeached official has the right to mount a defense with his own attorneys as well . Senators must also take an oath or affirmation that they will perform their duties honestly and with due diligence . After hearing the charges, the Senate usually deliberates in private . The U.S. Constitution requires a two - thirds majority for conviction . </P> <P> The Senate enters judgment on its decision, whether that be to convict or acquit, and a copy of the judgment is filed with the Secretary of State . Upon conviction in the Senate, the official is automatically removed from office and may also be barred from holding future office . The removed official is also liable to criminal prosecution . The President may not grant a pardon in the impeachment case, but may in any resulting criminal case . </P> <P> Beginning in the 1980s with Harry E. Claiborne, the Senate began using "Impeachment Trial Committees" pursuant to Senate Rule XI . These committees presided over the evidentiary phase of the trials, hearing the evidence and supervising the examination and cross-examination of witnesses . The committees would then compile the evidentiary record and present it to the Senate; all senators would then have the opportunity to review the evidence before the chamber voted to convict or acquit . The purpose of the committees was to streamline impeachment trials, which otherwise would have taken up a great deal of the chamber's time . Defendants challenged the use of these committees, claiming them to be a violation of their fair trial rights as well as the Senate's constitutional mandate, as a body, to have "sole power to try all impeachments ." Several impeached judges sought court intervention in their impeachment proceedings on these grounds, but the courts refused to become involved due to the Constitution's granting of impeachment and removal power solely to the legislative branch, making it a political question . </P>

Who takes the presidency if the president and vice president are removed from office