The Peoples' Constitution: Impeachment and Goldilocks (Part One)

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Separation of Powers lies at the heart of our Constitution, and impeachment is one of the most important ingredients of separation of powers. Both separation of powers and impeachment serve the same ultimate goals: preventing any branch of government from abusing its power and ensuring that our government does not grow into a tyranny that threatens the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Americans. This two-part article lays out the key features of impeachment under our Constitution (and aims to do so while avoiding politics or partisanship). Part One describes how the impeachment process works and the meaning of the key term “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Part Two next week then looks at actual examples of impeachment and ends with a review of potential impeachment issues arising out of the Mueller report concerning Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election....

Few things are more important for protecting American liberty than separation of powers. Under our Constitution, separation of powers means that the three branches of our federal government—legislative, executive and judicial—each serve distinct and important functions in our American system, and no branch can take actions that prevent another branch from carrying out those core functions. But it also means that each branch “checks and balances” the other branches, making sure they do not engage in illegal behavior or otherwise stray outside their constitutional role.Impeachment is among the most powerful “checks and balances” because it gives the people the ultimate check on government. Through the impeachment process “We the People” (through our elected representatives) can remove from office any federal government official, even the President, for serious public misconduct. But this leaves open a key question: What counts as an impeachable offense?

...In drafting and ratifying the Constitution, the Founders realized the awesome power of impeachment, and debated whether it should be broad or narrow. Under the broad view, the president could be impeached simply for doing a bad job in office, or for adopting policies that a majority believe are wrong. Under the narrow view, the president could only be impeached for truly heinous crimes like secretly helping our enemies, of engaging in gross corruption (e.g., taking a million-dollar bribe in exchange for a government favor). At the Constitutional convention, some argued that the president should be removed only for two crimes—treason or bribery. Indeed, some Founders went even further and argued that the president’s four-year term of office was sufficient to control the president, and that presidential impeachment was therefore unnecessary altogether. Refuting this view,George Mason stated “no point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment [of the president] should be continued.” Then Mason asked his famous question: “Shall any man be above Justice?”

This was the “Goldilocks” question facing the Founders—and getting the answer “just right” was critical. If the president could be impeached and removed from office too easily, he would be under the thumb of congress—the power to remove is the power to control. The result would be a greatly weakened president, harming the very idea of separation of powers and injuring the nation as a whole. On the other hand, if impeachment was too hard (or impossible), the nation could be forced to suffer for years under a truly horrible president with no power to remove him until the next election, which could be years off....

https://loudounnow.com/2019/07/25/the-peoples-constitution-impeachment-and-goldilocks-part-one/