The word impeachment has been in the news a lot, but it seems many Americans don’t really understand what that means (which is not surprising when you realize only 26% of Americans can name all three branches of the government (see “Could you pass this test”)

Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body levels charges against a government official. Impeachment does not in itself remove the official from office; it is the equivalent to an indictment in criminal law, and thus is only the statement of charges against the official.

In the relatively young history of the U.S. (243 years), only two presidents have been impeached. Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 (Nixon resigned in part to avoid being impeached). Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted and finished their term in office.

Impeachment by its very nature can be a very politicized event and that seems even more evident in today’s hyper-partisan world. Democrats want to “Dump Trump” while Republicans counter with “You just don’t like that he won”.

So where does that leave us? There really is no road map on how any of this works. For instance, there is a debate on whether or not congress must vote on a resolution to open inquires. No resolution has been voted on and it’s not clear that one would pass at this time (although it does appear the tide is shifting). Others argue having the House Judiciary Committee already engaged in an impeachment investigation by-passes the need for a resolution to open inquires.

Let’s just say for the moment, the House votes on the articles of impeachment with one of the articles passing, the president is officially impeached (the equivalent of being indicted, but not found guilty). The matter than goes to the Senate, were the procedures are even murkier.

You would think something this important would be spelled out in great detail, but you would be wrong; there are no set rules. The Senate could pass a resolution (there’s that word again) to lay out how the trail would proceed making it up as they go along, but there is no legal mechanism in place if the majority leader were to refuse to convene a trail (ala Senator Mitch McConnell refusing to permit a Supreme Court confirmation hearing and vote on Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland).

So how does this get resolved? There is one solution; let the American people decide in the 2020 presidential election. Then we can argue about the Election College and stop talking about impeachment.