Standard United States History (USH) Constitution Practice Test

The presiding officer in presidential impeachment trials is the Chief Justice of the United States. The Constitution sets up the process so that the House brings charges and the Senate holds the trial, with the Vice President serving as President of the Senate in ordinary sessions but not presiding over a presidential impeachment trial. For these trials, the Chief Justice sits as the presiding official to oversee procedures and rulings on questions of evidence, while the Senators act as the jury and determine the verdict. The Speaker of the House does not preside in the Senate trial, and a rotating panel of attorneys does not oversee it. This arrangement keeps the trial in a judicial framework while the political decision of impeachment occurs in the House.