High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (3 page)
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Authors: Ann Coulter
BOOK: High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton
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Obviously, the categories tend to bleed into one another and specific incidents might fall into more than one category. For example, compromising the country’s national security interests by leasing ports to the Chinese government or granting waivers for the transfer of sensitive technology could constitute corruption, betrayal of trust, or neglect of duty. Using the FBI and the IRS to harass a civil servant whose pink slip was sought by the president’s friend and contributor might qualify as corruption, abuse of power, or neglect of duty (if the president was simply unaware of his subordinate’s machinations). Granting perks and government jobs to people whose silence is sought constitutes corruption, abuse of power, and betrayal of trust—perhaps even misapplication of funds.
THE PROMISED LANDDespite the high-sounding nature
of these categories from the old country, oral sex from the interns in the Oval Office will do. Even in England impeachable conduct included personal vices. Men of weak character would place the government in disrepute. As was remarked in one English case, officers of the crown should not act so as to bring “scandal on the public justice of the Kingdom.”
of these categories from the old country, oral sex from the interns in the Oval Office will do. Even in England impeachable conduct included personal vices. Men of weak character would place the government in disrepute. As was remarked in one English case, officers of the crown should not act so as to bring “scandal on the public justice of the Kingdom.”
But when the impeachment device made its way across the ocean to America, it was inserted into a Constitution that created a government unlike any other. The different context gave impeachments a different color. Watergate-era cliches about the president “subverting constitutional government” were overwrought rhetoric then; this is not the standard now. To paraphrase the current “just about sex” line, Watergate was about a two-bit breaking and entering. And unlike with Monica Lewinsky, it wasn’t committed by the president, or even by people who worked at his White House, but by people who worked for his campaign committee. Grand-sounding treacheries weren’t required by the framers, weren’t required for Nixon, and aren’t required now. It’s enough for the president to be a pervert.
The British categories for high crimes and misdemeanors weren’t rejected by the framers so much as they were expanded and reshuffled for use in a different country. The Philadelphia convention in 1787 adopted the impeachment remedy in the process of creating the first government in the history of the world that would have separated powers, checks and balances, and sharply limited powers. And, of course, no king. The reach and purposes of impeachment would be different in a constitutional republic. Personal misconduct took on a larger role in impeachments, for example, and policy disputes became irrelevant to impeachable conduct.
Impeachments in Great Britain had been used as a weapon in the ongoing and turbulent power struggle between Parliament and the king. Describing the standard reason for an impeachment, the Earl of Danby, a leader of the impeachment of Clarendon, said that if he did not succeed in hanging Clarendon for high treason, he, the Earl of Danby himself, would be hanged instead.
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(And in the “whirligig of politics” the Earl of Danby was in fact later impeached—but only imprisoned.
25
) The king could not be impeached, but Parliament could weaken him by impeaching his ministers.
24
(And in the “whirligig of politics” the Earl of Danby was in fact later impeached—but only imprisoned.
25
) The king could not be impeached, but Parliament could weaken him by impeaching his ministers.
Consequently, impeachments in Great Britain tended to fall into ponderous, grand-sounding categories such as “abuse of power” and “encroachment on Parliament’s prerogatives.” Meanwhile, actual impeachments in this country have been for things like “consorting with harlots” and “drunkenness.”
The only impeachment convictions ever rendered by the United States Senate were for the high crimes and misdemeanors of: Drunkenness and Senility; Incitement to Revolt and Rebellion Against the Nation; Bribery; Kickbacks and Tax Evasion; Tax Evasion; Conspiracy to Solicit a Bribe; and False Statements to a Grand Jury.
26
While Clinton’s defenders act as if an impeachable offense must be some immediate threat to the nation—such as the discovery that the president was conspiring with communist agents to turn over vital missile technology to Red China—impeachment was intended to be used, and always has been used, to remove officers who simply “behave amiss.”
26
While Clinton’s defenders act as if an impeachable offense must be some immediate threat to the nation—such as the discovery that the president was conspiring with communist agents to turn over vital missile technology to Red China—impeachment was intended to be used, and always has been used, to remove officers who simply “behave amiss.”
Impeachment scholar Raoul Berger remarked of impeachment American-style: “Once initiated to topple giants… impeachment has sunk in this country to the ouster of dreary little judges for squalid misconduct.”
27
But the American variations on impeachable crimes flow directly from the Constitution itself. Power struggles were resolved in advance by the Constitution; others would be resolved with constitutional mechanisms such as presidential vetoes, veto overrides, and judicial review.
27
But the American variations on impeachable crimes flow directly from the Constitution itself. Power struggles were resolved in advance by the Constitution; others would be resolved with constitutional mechanisms such as presidential vetoes, veto overrides, and judicial review.
Another difference between impeachment in Great Britain and impeachment in this country is that Congress does not have the authority to hang or otherwise punish the impeached officers. Some might say that eliminating the possibility of beheading or hanging cabinet officials for “treasons” defined retrospectively by the legislature was a step up.
One additional distinction the Constitution requires is this: policy disputes are not supposed to be resolved by resort to impeachment. Since impeachment was used in Great Britain as a weapon against a king whose veto Parliament could not override, impeachments frequently addressed policy disputes with the king. (These were often resolved with a hanging.) Members of Parliament couldn’t stop the king from entering into treaties they didn’t like, but they could impeach his ministers who gave the king such “bad advice.”
28
This was really a method to “condemn policies which they believed pernicious to the realm.”
29
28
This was really a method to “condemn policies which they believed pernicious to the realm.”
29
By contrast, the Constitution gives Congress plenty of tools, short of impeachment, to oppose a president’s “pernicious” policies. Moreover, the chief magistrate would not govern by divine right, but by the consent of the people. Elections decide policy; impeachments judge character. Staging impeachments over policy disagreements doesn’t make sense in the context of the American Constitution.
That policy disagreements cannot form the basis for an impeachable offense in this country is more than a logical deduction from the structure and purposes of the Constitution. At the Constitutional Convention, Madison explicitly rejected “maladministration” as a ground for impeachment. He said “so vague a term will be equivalent to a tenure during the pleasure of the Senate.” (And thus, “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” was adopted instead.)
30
30
Other comments from the framers further demonstrate that the purposes of impeachment did not include policy disputes—but did include personal misconduct. Edmund Randolph said, for example: “No man ever thought of impeaching a man for an opinion. It would be impossible to discover whether the error in opinion resulted from a wilful mistake of the heart, or an involuntary fault of the head.”
31
Apparently, a “wilful mistake of the heart,” when discernable,
would
constitute grounds for impeachment and removal.
31
Apparently, a “wilful mistake of the heart,” when discernable,
would
constitute grounds for impeachment and removal.
When Hamilton described impeachable offenses as “political,” he did not mean partisan. The president cannot be impeached for issuing executive orders that are strongly opposed by
New York Times
columnist Anthony Lewis. Rather, high crimes and misdemeanors are “political” in the sense that they “relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.”
32
Since policy matters are necessarily off the table, in a sense, that leaves only “personal misconduct,” or as Edmund Randolph put it, “wilful mistakes of the heart.”
New York Times
columnist Anthony Lewis. Rather, high crimes and misdemeanors are “political” in the sense that they “relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.”
32
Since policy matters are necessarily off the table, in a sense, that leaves only “personal misconduct,” or as Edmund Randolph put it, “wilful mistakes of the heart.”
Perhaps the more significant American innovation on impeachment was that the chief magistrate could be impeached. Indeed, it was the president the framers had in mind when they drafted the impeachment clauses.
Having just fought a war to get rid of a king, the framers had “the perfidy of the chief magistrate”
33
clearly in their sights when they included broad grounds for impeachment. They discussed the Constitution’s impeachment power in terms of removing a president who “misbehaves” or “behave [s] amiss,” as two of the delegates put it.
34
Madison wrote that impeachment was meant to remove presidents for “incapacity, negligence, or perfidy.”
35
And Hamilton wrote that the entire process of selecting a president was designed to ensure that “some fit person” notable for “ability and virtue” would be chosen for that office. As a back-up mechanism to prevent rogues from holding office, they provided for impeachment.
33
clearly in their sights when they included broad grounds for impeachment. They discussed the Constitution’s impeachment power in terms of removing a president who “misbehaves” or “behave [s] amiss,” as two of the delegates put it.
34
Madison wrote that impeachment was meant to remove presidents for “incapacity, negligence, or perfidy.”
35
And Hamilton wrote that the entire process of selecting a president was designed to ensure that “some fit person” notable for “ability and virtue” would be chosen for that office. As a back-up mechanism to prevent rogues from holding office, they provided for impeachment.
To have the president’s behavior propel the country into a national discussion of whether oral sex counts as adultery would have been a blatant “high Crime and Misdemeanor,” if the framers could possibly have imagined any president would sink so low.
THE LAST TIMEBut one doesn’t have to look
back to the Constitutional Convention for the standards. This country last faced the need to remove a president just twenty-five years ago during the presidential scandal known as “Watergate.” Half the country actually lived through this most recent precedent for impeaching a president.
back to the Constitutional Convention for the standards. This country last faced the need to remove a president just twenty-five years ago during the presidential scandal known as “Watergate.” Half the country actually lived through this most recent precedent for impeaching a president.
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee adopted three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon. The charges against him were neatly summarized in two sentences at the bottom of the indictment:
In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.Wherefore, Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
To say that Nixon was forced to resign for acting in a manner “subversive of constitutional government” is meaningless without knowing what acts comprised that “subversion.” In brief, Nixon’s subversion consisted of: One presidential lie, one invocation of presidential privilege, and zero criminal offenses.
36
The standard for “constitutional government subversion”—or whatever the impeachable offense is called—should not be a function of poll numbers plus the misery index.
36
The standard for “constitutional government subversion”—or whatever the impeachable offense is called—should not be a function of poll numbers plus the misery index.
Impeachment, as the country was reminded in 1974, is intended to reinforce the heavy constitutional cables that hold even heads of state to the rule of law. If a president can slip these cables, we no longer have a constitutional republic. We end up with an “Imperial President,” as Anthony Lewis and Company ceaselessly intoned during the Nixon presidency, right on up to the election of President Carter (to be reintroduced during the Reagan years).
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As Nixon discovered, the president’s obligations go far beyond the requirement that he not criminally obstruct justice. Madison explained, “If the President be connected, in any suspicious manner with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.” Using the power of the presidency to “pardon crimes which were advised by himself ” or to “stop inquiry and prevent detection” of crimes was, according to Madison, an impeachable offense.
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Nixon
talked
about political audits by the IRS, but no political audits were ever conducted (except of Nixon himself). Nixon invoked one privilege one time (and this was somewhat legitimate, since the Supreme Court did in fact recognize a brand new legal privilege). Nixon permitted his subordinates to delay one investigation once—for two weeks.
talked
about political audits by the IRS, but no political audits were ever conducted (except of Nixon himself). Nixon invoked one privilege one time (and this was somewhat legitimate, since the Supreme Court did in fact recognize a brand new legal privilege). Nixon permitted his subordinates to delay one investigation once—for two weeks.
The worst that could be said of Nixon’s alleged “obstruction of justice” was that he thought the president had a right to fight a legal case, just like a private citizen might. But as Nixon’s first special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, said, “[T]here is a radical difference between what people expect of a president and his aides and what they will cynically tolerate from time to time in municipal aldermen or county commissioners.” A president cannot act like a municipal alderman; he certainly should not be able to act like O.J.
39
39
If Nixon telling one lie,
not
under oath, constituted the creation of an “Imperial Presidency”
40
demanding the president’s impeachment, what has Clinton created by telling repeated lies, not only to the public, but under oath?
not
under oath, constituted the creation of an “Imperial Presidency”
40
demanding the president’s impeachment, what has Clinton created by telling repeated lies, not only to the public, but under oath?
Lying to the American people is a clear betrayal of trust. There is no question that this is an impeachable offense, assuming the “lie” does not fall under the president’s duties, such as protecting the military as commander in chief. That may sound odd, given how thoroughly politicians are associated in the public eye with lying. But throughout American history, acknowledged instances of presidents lying to the nation are both rare and notorious.
In fact, Nixon’s lie—that the White House had conducted its own internal investigation of the Watergate break-in and found that no White House personnel had been involved—was actually cited in the first article of impeachment voted by the Rodino Committee. Article I charged Nixon with, among other things, “making or
causing to be made
false or misleading statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States into believing that a thorough and complete investigation had been conducted…” (emphasis added).
causing to be made
false or misleading statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States into believing that a thorough and complete investigation had been conducted…” (emphasis added).
The Watergate special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, said of Nixon’s disgrace and resignation: “What sank him was his lying.”
41
Even President Nixon’s most loyal defenders abandoned his cause when they found that he had indeed lied to the public. Just on one point. “The problem is not Watergate or the cover-up.… It’s that he hasn’t been telling the truth to the American people…. The tape makes it evident that he hasn’t leveled with the country for probably eighteen months. And the President can’t lead a country he has deliberately misled for a year and a half.”
42
That, incidentally, was how Nixon’s speechwriter, Pat Buchanan, explained to Julie Nixon that her father had to go.
41
Even President Nixon’s most loyal defenders abandoned his cause when they found that he had indeed lied to the public. Just on one point. “The problem is not Watergate or the cover-up.… It’s that he hasn’t been telling the truth to the American people…. The tape makes it evident that he hasn’t leveled with the country for probably eighteen months. And the President can’t lead a country he has deliberately misled for a year and a half.”
42
That, incidentally, was how Nixon’s speechwriter, Pat Buchanan, explained to Julie Nixon that her father had to go.
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