Akkam’s Razor

For starters, who can be impeached?

The president, vice president, and all civil officers of the United States are subject to impeachment; conviction means automatic removal from office.

Where in the Constitution is impeachment established?

The United States Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” (Article I, section 2) and that “the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments …. [but] no person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present.” (Article I, section 3)

Impeachment is a very serious affair. It is perhaps the most awesome power of Congress, the ultimate weapon it wields against officials of the federal government. The House of Representatives is the prosecutor. The Senate chamber is the courtroom. The Senate is the jury and also the judge, except in the case of a presidential impeachment trial when the chief justice presides. The final penalty is removal from office. There is no appeal.

What is an impeachable crime?

In the original proposals, the president was to be removed on impeachment and conviction “for mal or corrupt conduct,” or for “malpractice or neglect of duty.” Later, the wording was changed to “treason, bribery, or corruption,” then to “treason or bribery” alone. Contending that “treason or bribery” were too narrow, George Mason proposed adding “mal-administration,” but switched to “other high crimes and misdemeanors against the state” when Madison said that “mal-administration” was too broad. A final revision defined impeachable crimes as “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
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Treason and bribery, the two constitutionally designated impeachable crimes, were clear cut. But what were “high crimes and misdemeanors?” Were misdemeanors lesser crimes, or merely misconducts? Did a high crime or misdemeanor have to be a violation of written law? Over the years, “high crimes and misdemeanors” have been anything the prosecutors have wanted them to be.

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