I think we are talking about different things.
On the "impeachable offense" questions there are, logically, at least
three views one can take:
1. There exists a set of "impeachable offenses". Congress has a duty to
impeach and convict if one of these is committed.
2. There exists a set of "impeachable offenses". Congress has a
duty/lacks the power to impeach unless one of these is alleged, but has no
obligation to do so even if one is committed.
3. The set of "impeachable offenses" is not precisely described by the
constitution. It is fundamentally a political question. But some things
are so clearly outside the set that it would be at least a moral violation
of a representative's duties to vote to impeach/convict for them.
You're suggesting, I think, that I argued (1), but I was trying to
make an argument that would apply in all three cases. But if pushed, I
think (1) is my last choice of the three.
On Sun, 8 Jun 2003, Frank Cross wrote:
> The suggestion is made that:
> ______________________________
> "Surely it depends about what, when, and to whom. Lying to Congress to
> start a war -- were this ever to occur -- must surely fit within "high
> crime and misdemeanor" or we're a strange kind of republic indeed."
> ______________________________
>
> While I concede the facial appeal of this claim, I've got to take issue
> with it.
> LBJ surely lied about Vietnam yet I don't think he should have been
> impeached. FDR told some lies in order to ease the country into WWII, I
> think. Lincoln may have told some lies precedent to the Civil War. Only
> when a lie rises to the level of producing widespread public outrage would
> impeachment become plausible. Now, one may argue that the public is too
> slow to take outrage over lying, but in our democratic system I would think
> they are the determinant.
>
> I really hoped that the Clinton experience had given the lie to claims that
> a certain action or type of action is an "impeachable offense" in some
> traditional legalistic sense.
>
>
>
>
> Frank Cross
> Herbert D. Kelleher Centennial Professor of Business Law
> CBA 5.202
> University of Texas at Austin
> Austin, TX 78712
>
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