Reply #4: The Clinton impeachment process only took 5 months! [View All]

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I'm on the don't-impeach side, but the Republicans took only five months (and three days to be exact) to run the whole process through -

September 9, 1998: Independent Counsel Ken Starr submits his report to the House of Representatives.

September 11, 1998: The House of Representative votes to receive the Starr report. The House Judiciary Committee takes possession of the 18 boxes of materials and promptly releases the first 445 pages to the public.

October 5, 1998: On a 21-16 vote, the House Judiciary Committee recommends a full impeachment inquiry

October 8, 1998: The House of Representatives authorizes a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry of President Clinton on a 258-176 vote. Thirty-one Democrats join Republicans in supporting the investigation.

November 3, 1998: Democrats pick up five seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and held off a Republican super-majority in the Senate.

December 8, 1998: In a daylong session, President Clinton's lawyers and three panels of witnesses testify on the president's behalf, saying Clinton's behavior does not warrant impeachment.

December 11-12, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee approves four articles of impeachment, alleging that President Clinton committed perjury and obstruction of justice as well as accusing him of making false statements in his answers to written questions from Congress. A Democratic proposal to censure Clinton instead goes down to defeat.

December 19, 1998: After 13 1/2 hours of debate over two days, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment.

January 7, 1999: The perjury and obstruction of justice trial of President Bill Clinton begins in the Senate.

February 12, 1999: President Clinton is acquitted of the two articles of impeachment.

(Timeline abridged, from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/clintontimeline.htm)