The Hegseth Impeachment Effort: Procedure, Precedent, and Next Steps

The House voted to refer articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, 211-204. Massie was the only Republican to vote “aye.” This action by the House effectively tables any impeachment until the next Congress is seated in January. Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie filed updated articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Monday, Nov. 9, the first day the House was back in session after the midterms. This is actually a re-file of the original version he introduced on Sept. 15, which stalled when Speaker Johnson adjourned the House early before the election.

In his press release, Massie listed eight articles: three articles assert violations of the War Powers Resolution in waging the Iran War, ignoring laws that require minimizing civilian casualties, extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers resulting in at least 243 deaths, suppression of free speech by using his office to retaliate against Senator Mark Kelly, kidnapping a sovereign foreign leader, and waging an unlawful war in Yemen. The full text of the articles of impeachment is here.

Tuesday’s vote is the most recent in a long history.

In response to Secretary Hegseth allegedly disclosing classified information in an unclassified Signal chat, Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-MI) introduced articles of impeachment on December 9, 2025. These articles were referred to the Judiciary Committee without further action. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) introduced six articles of impeachment in April, 2026 (H.Res. 1177), citing violations of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, reckless handling of sensitive military information, obstruction of Congress, abuse of power, and bringing disrepute upon the U.S. Armed Forces. Like Thanedar’s articles, Ansari’s articles were referred to the Judiciary Committee and have had no action. Massie's first articles came on September 15, and Speaker Johnson adjourned early, so there was no vote. The midterms followed November 3, and Massie refiled Nov. 9.

The Iran War began February 2026, and the February 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab remains uninvestigated publicly, despite repeated calls from Congress to do so. When the 90-day clock for Congressional approval for presidential military action under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 expired, the House passed House Concurrent Resolution 86 directing withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area by June 3. The Senate concurred 50-48 on June 23, sending a message to the White House that there was no support on Capitol Hill to continue the Iran War. President Trump called the resolution "poorly timed and meaningless."

How All This Works

Massie filed the articles as a “privileged resolution.” A privileged resolution is an action by a Member of the House that essentially lets a bill or resolution jump to the top of the legislative calendar. According to House Rule IX, once the Speaker recognizes it as privileged, the House has two legislative days to vote it up or down, table it, or refer it to committee. Impeachment falls under this Rule since Congress has the sole power of impeachment.

Impeachment is the constitutional power of Congress under Article I, Section 2, which gives the House the power of impeachment and assigns the trial to the Senate. Once the House votes to impeach an officer of the Executive, the Senate “shall” conduct a trial. An impeachment, therefore, is analogous to a grand jury in which evidence is presented, and the House decides whether to refer the accused to a trial in the Senate.

No Cabinet officer has ever been convicted and removed. Only two Cabinet officers have ever been impeached in history. President Grant’s Secretary of War (Army), William Belknap, was impeached in 1876 over a kickback scheme for government contracts. He was later acquitted because, by the time the Senate held the trial, he had already resigned. In 2024, the Republican House brought charges of malfeasance and dereliction of duty against then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his management of border security. Those articles were dismissed in the Senate without trial.

Does Massie Have the Votes?

To impeach an executive officer requires only a simple majority in the House. Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the lame-duck Congress, and so, with all the Democrats expected to vote “aye,” it would only take a few Republican defections or abstentions to send Hegseth to trial in the Senate. Massie himself put the odds at 50-50, and his fellow Kentuckian James Comer (R-KY) acknowledged impeachment is “very possible.” That prediction turned out to be optimistic. Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans did not vote in the impeachment vote, which is a key reason the Republicans succeeded in tabling the action until the next Congress.

The Senate is another matter since it remains in Republican hands by one vote, and Vice President Vance can cast the tie-breaker in the event of a 50-50 tie. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote to convict and remove an officer from the Executive. Republicans control the Senate until the 120th Congress convenes Jan. 3, 2027, then Democrats take over. Being a lame-duck Congress does not prevent an impeachment or a carry-over. President Clinton was impeached by the lame-duck 105th House on Dec. 19, 1998, and tried in the 106th Senate in January 1999 after the new House re-appointed managers. The Republican controlled Senate will not likely have to take up the measure since the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee is not likely to hold hearings or take any action.

Even if the procedural vote had gone Massie’s way, followed by an impeachment by the full House, the actual Articles would not be transmitted to the Senate until the House appoints the “managers.” House impeachment managers are essentially the prosecuting and defense counsels who will represent both the House and Hegseth in the Senate. So even though the Senate’s rules require that body to take up an impeachment “by 1 p.m. the next day,” the House really controls the timing. Speaker Johnson could elect to send the Articles over right away, or he could slow-walk them so the next Congress would have to take it up after they’re sworn in. In 2019-2020, after the January 6 Capitol Hill riots, Speaker Pelosi held transmitting the articles for about four weeks.

In practice, a Senate majority can end it fast, and the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is an example of that. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) raised points of order that the articles were unconstitutional after receiving them from the House, and two floor votes sustained his objection 51-48-1 and 51-49. The Senate rejected the articles about three hours after senators were sworn in as jurors. There was no evidence and no trial, and Republicans then called it a break with "200 years of precedent." If they decided to use the same tool to save Hegseth, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) could cite Schumer’s maneuver as precedent.

If the Senate votes to convict, then Secretary Hegseth is no longer the Secretary of Defense. He would receive his official notification via the Secretary of State, who sends a copy of the judgment to the Senate. In practice, judges who have been impeached have vacated their office when it became clear the vote was going against them.

In a November 4 CNN interview, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) was quoted as saying, "He is just not the right guy for the job. Nothing personal...The president deserves better than that."

Even Vice President JD Vance expressed his own reservations about Secretary Hegseth, albeit obliquely, by blaming the Republicans’ blowout loss in the midterms on the war. On his X account, Vance wrote,

"The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. The reason we lost is the war."

Of course Secretary Hegseth could resign and avoid a trial, as President Nixon did in 1972. Alternatively, the President could fire him.

Trump and Hegseth’s Response

Hegseth dismissed his impeachment on November 10 at the Pentagon by calling it a “political spectacle" and suggested the “proper remedy” for a policy disagreement was legislation. His statement on November 10 followed statements on November 8 and 9 where he defended his record, and dismissed criticisms against him as "a farce" and "sabotage.”

What This Means for Service Members

For rank-and-file service members, the impeachment alone changes nothing. Secretary Hegseth remains in office unless the Senate convicts him or he resigns, and the daily work of the armed forces continues just as it does during any change in leadership. If Secretary Hegseth is removed, service members can expect changes just as they do when a new secretary or administration takes office.

Officers and enlisted personnel are still required to follow all lawful orders, and questions about orders should be referred to the chain of command or the staff judge advocate’s office. Pay, orders, benefits, and service regulations remain the same unless or until they are changed by proper authorities.

Since this Congress effectively pushed any decisions on Hegseth to the next Congress, expect the new Democratic-led House and Senate to take up the impeachment again in January.