High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Defining the Constitutional Limits on Presidential Impeachment

This Article had its genesis in a statement by the authors submitted to the House Judiciary Committee during its proceedings regarding the impeachment of President Clinton. This final much expanded version appears after the conclusion of the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the Senate, and it is certainly informed by the course those proceedings took. Strictly speaking, however, this is not an article “about” the Clinton impeachment. Although this Article draws some conclusions from the treatment by the House and Senate of the fundamental allegations against President Clinton, it does not address in detail the specific facts underlying those allegations. The words “Monica Lewinsky” appear for the first and last time in this sentence. Likewise, this Article offers no opinion about whether President Clinton should or should not have been impeached or removed