Word: colfax
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...protect Agnew from prosecution, the Department of Justice would deliver its evidence to the House of Representatives. If the acts in the indictment occurred after Agnew became Vice President, the House would undoubtedly impeach him. But if they took place before he assumed office, the House might follow the Colfax precedent. In 1872 the House decided not to start impeachment proceedings against Vice President Schuyler Colfax for acts he bid allegedly committed before being elected, arguing that he could be impeached only for misdeeds committed while in office. In that event, Agnew would be neither indictable nor impeachable and, however...
SCHLESINGER: Both Vice Presidents Colfax and Calhoun, the two cases often cited, involved actions done before they became Vice President. But they don't provide a clear precedent. In the Calhoun case, the House accepted the responsibility to appoint a select committee to investigate charges made against Calhoun some years before. In the Colfax case, it declined to do so. In the Agnew case, not only do the two precedents glance in different directions, but we aren't even clear that the complaints against him do not spill over into his vice presidency...
...committee concluded that impeachment was intended by the Constitution not as a way to punish malefactors, but only to remove a man from an office he has abused while occupying it. Since whatever crime Colfax had committed occurred while he was Speaker, he could not be impeached...
There was even less agreement on whether a presidential immunity from prosecution applies to a Vice President. Although three previous Vice Presidents (Aaron Burr, John C. Calhoun and Schuyler Colfax) were threatened with criminal charges, none was either brought to trial or impeached, so there are no clear precedents. Kurland believes that since only the President is indispensable, only he enjoys the privilege of immunity. According to the Constitution, the Vice President's sole duty is to preside over the Senate-and to be ready to succeed the President if necessary. But Bickel argues that immunity also applies...