Monday, September 30, 2019

The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis


Michael J. Gerhardt, The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis (University of Chicago Press, 2019).
For more than twenty years, The Federal Impeachment Process has served as the most complete analysis of the constitutional and legal issues raised in every impeachment proceeding in American history. Impeachment, Michael J. Gerhardt shows, is an inherently political process designed to expose and remedy political crimes -- serious breaches of duty, abuse of power, or injuries to the Republic. Subject neither to judicial review nor to presidential veto, impeachment is a unique congressional power that requires members of Congress to consider the political and constitutional ramifications, the gravity of the offense charged, the harm to the constitutional order, and the link between an official's misconduct and duties.

For this third edition, Gerhardt updates the book to cover questions relating to impeachment since President Clinton's acquittal, as well as recent scholarly debates. He discusses issues arising from President Trump's possible impeachment, including whether a sitting president may be investigated, prosecuted, and convicted for criminal misconduct or whether impeachment and conviction in Congress is the only way to sanction a sitting president; what the "emoluments clause" means and whether it might provide the basis for presidential removal; whether incompetence may serve as the basis for impeachment; and the extent to which the past conduct of public officials may serve as a basis for their impeachment and removal from office.
-Publisher's Description