The Politics of Presidential Impeachment PDF Download

Author: Daniel P. Franklin
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438480032
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The Politics of Presidential Impeachment takes a distinctive and fresh look at the impeachment provision of the US Constitution. Instead of studying it from a legal-constitutional perspective, the authors use a social science approach incorporating extensive case studies and quantitative analysis. Focusing on four presidents who faced impeachment processes—Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton—they examine the conditions under which presidential impeachment is likely to occur and argue that partisanship and the evolving relationship between Congress and the president determine its effectiveness as an institutional constraint. They find that, in our contemporary political context, the propensity of Congress to utilize the impeachment tool is more likely, but given the state of heightened partisanship, impeachment is less likely to result in removal of a president. The authors conclude that impeachment is no longer a credible threat and thus no longer an effective tool in the arsenal of checks and balances. The book also offers a postscript that discusses the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.

Author: Aníbal Pérez-Liñán
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139464450
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Documents the emergence of a pattern of political instability in Latin America. Traditional military coups have receded in the region, but elected presidents are still ousted from power as a result of recurrent crises. Aníbal Pérez-Liñán shows that presidential impeachment has become the main constitutional instrument employed by civilian elites to depose unpopular rulers. Based on detailed comparative research in five countries and extensive historical information, the book explains why crises without breakdown have become the dominant form of instability in recent years and why some presidents are removed from office while others survive in power. The analysis emphasizes the erosion of presidential approval resulting from corruption and unpopular policies, the formation of hostile coalitions in Congress, and the role of investigative journalism. This book challenges classic assumptions in studies of presidentialism and provides important insights for the fields of political communication, democratization, political behaviour, and institutional analysis.

Author: David O. Stewart
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416547509
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
An account of the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the presidency. It demolishes the myth that Johnson's impeachment was unjustified.

Author: Laurence Tribe
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1541644875
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
As Congress prepares articles of impeachment of President Trump, read the definitive book on presidential impeachment and how it should be used today. Impeachment is our ultimate constitutional check against an out-of-control executive. But it is also a perilous and traumatic undertaking for the nation. In this authoritative examination, Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz rise above the daily clamor to illuminate impeachment's proper role in our age of broken politics. To End a Presidency is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand how this fearsome power should be deployed.

Author: Tom Ginsburg
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 0857931210
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 681

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Book Description
This landmark volume of specially commissioned, original contributions by top international scholars organizes the issues and controversies of the rich and rapidly maturing field of comparative constitutional law. Divided into sections on constitutional design and redesign, identity, structure, individual rights and state duties, courts and constitutional interpretation, this comprehensive volume covers over 100 countries as well as a range of approaches to the boundaries of constitutional law. While some chapters reference the text of legal instruments expressly labeled constitutional, others focus on the idea of entrenchment or take a more functional approach. Challenging the current boundaries of the field, the contributors offer diverse perspectives - cultural, historical and institutional - as well as suggestions for future research. A unique and enlightening volume, Comparative Constitutional Law is an essential resource for students and scholars of the subject.

Author: Jon Meacham
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 1984853783
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Four experts on the American presidency examine the three times impeachment has been invoked—against Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—and explain what it means today. Impeachment is a double-edged sword. Though it was designed to check tyrants, Thomas Jefferson also called impeachment “the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived.” On the one hand, it nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of all representative democracies. On the other, its absence from the Constitution would leave the country vulnerable to despotic leadership. It is rarely used, and with good reason. Only three times has a president’s conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one. None has yet succeeded. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for failing to kowtow to congressional leaders—and, in a large sense, for failing to be Abraham Lincoln—yet survived his Senate trial. Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 after the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against him for lying, obstructing justice, and employing his executive power for personal and political gain. Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House intern, but in 1999 he faced trial in the Senate less for that prurient act than for lying under oath about it. In the first book to consider these three presidents alone—and the one thing they have in common—Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, and Peter Baker explain that the basis and process of impeachment is more political than legal. The Constitution states that the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” leaving room for historical precedent and the temperament of the time to weigh heavily on each case. This book reveals the complicated motives behind each impeachment—never entirely limited to the question of a president’s guilt—and the risks to all sides. Each case depended on factors beyond the president’s behavior: his relationship with Congress, the polarization of the moment, and the power and resilience of the office itself. This is a realist view of impeachment that looks to history for clues about its potential use in the future.

Author: Frank O. Bowman III
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009400975
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 637

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Book Description
A complete historical and constitutional analysis of impeachment by a leading scholar who participated in both Trump impeachments.

Author: Michael J. Gerhardt
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479824712
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A clear and comprehensive overview of presidential impeachment from a leading expert in the field As a result of Donald Trump’s presidency, impeachment was once again thrust into the spotlight of American political discussion. However, its history goes back to the very founding of the nation, when American colonists, remembering their grievances against their former king, entrenched the process in their new Constitution. The Law of Presidential Impeachment breaks down both the law and politics of this process, providing a comprehensive, nonpartisan, and up-to-date explanation of the Constitution’s various mechanisms for holding presidents accountable for their misdeeds. Based on a lifetime of scholarly research, as well as unique experience as a witness and consultant in the impeachment trials of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Michael J. Gerhardt’s new book takes the reader back to the basics of presidential impeachments. Rather than provide reasons for or against impeaching particular presidents, he explains the law and procedures that govern impeachment, examining a number of significant, yet under-explored, issues and themes. Gerhardt offers new perspectives on the subject, arguing that it cannot be properly understood in a vacuum, but must instead be viewed in the context of its coordination with such other mechanisms as criminal prosecutions, censure, elections, congressional oversight, and the Fourteenth and Twenty-Fifth Amendments. The Law of Presidential Impeachment will be an invaluable, accessible guide for future generations, giving them a succinct yet remarkably nuanced understanding of this core aspect of our executive branch and overarching governmental system.

Author: Michael J. Gerhardt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019090366X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Impeachment: What Everyone Needs to Know(R) is the step back and deep reflection on the law of impeachment that everyone needs now. Written in an accessible and lively question-and-answer format, it offers a timely explanation of the impeachment process from its very meaning to its role in politics today. The book defines the scope of impeachable offenses, and how the Constitution provides alternative procedures and sanctions for addressing misconduct in office. It explains why the only two presidential impeachments, those of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, failed to lead to conviction, and how the impeachments of federal judges illuminate the law and politics of the process. As a legal expert and the only joint witness in the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, author Michael J. Gerhardt also explores a question frequently asked-will Donald Trump be impeached? This book does not take a side in the debate over the possible impeachment of the president; instead, it is a primer for anyone eager to learn about impeachment's origins, practices, limitations, and alternatives.

Author: John Murphy
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438107536
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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Book Description
The impeachment process is one of the most serious government proceedings in the United States. This guide dispels the most common myths about the process while setting forth a definition of what it means for a president to be impeached. It includes full-color photographs, sidebars, a glossary, suggestions for further reading, and an index.