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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Assessing The Impeachment Of President Bill Clinton From A Post 9/11 Perspective, Susan Low Bloch
Assessing The Impeachment Of President Bill Clinton From A Post 9/11 Perspective, Susan Low Bloch
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The impeachment of President Clinton was more a circus than a serious effort to remove the President of the United States. The reason is simple: Few people--in the Congress or the country--wanted to remove him or believed the impeachment effort would actually result in his removal. Instead, it was a partisan political effort to embarrass Clinton and "send a message" of disapproval. Congress was attaching a "scarlet letter." But this was an indulgence that posed considerable danger that few in Congress considered. In particular, few tried to assess the potential impact this use of the process would have on the …
The Impeachment Of The Judges Of The Nova Scotia Supreme Court, 1787-1793: Colonial Judges, Loyalist Lawyers, And The Colonial Assembly, Jim Phillips
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 1790 the Nova Scotia House of Assembly passed seven "articles of impeachment" against two ofthe colony's Supreme Courtjudges, the firstattempt bya British North American assembly to remove superior courtjudges. Although the impeachment failed when the British government rejected the charges, it is noteworthy nonetheless. The product of a dispute between newly arrived loyalist lawyers and a local elite of "old inhabitants, " it was at one and the same time a political struggle between the Assembly and the executive branch, and one that involved concerns about judicial competence. The impeachment crisis also demonstrates the close links between the judiciary …
The Impeachment Trial Of Andrew Johnson, Douglas O. Linder
The Impeachment Trial Of Andrew Johnson, Douglas O. Linder
Faculty Works
Andrew Johnson was a lifelong Democrat and slave owner who won a place alongside Abraham Lincoln on the 1864 Republican ticket in order to gain the support of pro-war Democrats. Johnson was fiercely pro-Union and had come to national prominence when, as a Senator from the important border state of Tennessee, he denounced secession as treason. In May, 1868, the Senate came within a single vote of taking the unprecedented step of removing a president from office. Although the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson was ostensibly about a violation of the Tenure of Office Act, it was about much more …
The Impeachment Trial Of President William Clinton, Douglas O. Linder
The Impeachment Trial Of President William Clinton, Douglas O. Linder
Faculty Works
In 1999, for only the second time in United States history, the Senate conducted an impeachment trial of a President. The acquittal of William Jefferson Clinton on February 12 came as no great surprise, given the near party-line vote on impeachment charges in the House of Representatives leading to the trial. The impeachment saga of President Clinton has its origins in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought in Arkansas in May, 1994 by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. Lawyers for Clinton argued that the Jones suit would distract him from the important tasks of his office and should not …
"High Crimes And Misdemeanors": Recovering The Intentions Of The Founders, Gary L. Mcdowell
"High Crimes And Misdemeanors": Recovering The Intentions Of The Founders, Gary L. Mcdowell
Law Faculty Publications
Such serious charges by so many distinguished historians demand a careful consideration of what the Founders meant by "high Crimes and Misdemeanors": Were they only indictable crimes or did they include what one of the Framers called "political crimes and misdemeanors?" Were they offenses that a President would commit only in "the exercise of executive power" or did they also include a President's malfeasance committed in his private capacity? Were they subject to a reasonably fixed meaning or were they to be determined simply by the exercise of the "awful discretion" of those in Congress called upon to impeach and …
An Original Model Of The Independent Counsel Statute, Ken Gormley
An Original Model Of The Independent Counsel Statute, Ken Gormley
Michigan Law Review
On Friday, October 19, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon took a risky step to de-fang the Watergate investigation that had become a "viper in the bosom" of his Presidency. The U.S. Court of Appeals had just directed him to tum over tape-recordings subpoenaed by Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; these taperecordings might prove or disprove White House involvement in the Watergate cover-up. Rather than challenge this ruling, the President conceived a new plan. The White House would prepare summaries of the nine tape-recordings in question, which would be verified by Senator John Stennis, a seventy-two-year-old Democrat from Mississippi, working alone …
How Serious Is The Threat Of Impeachment? And To Whom?, Harold Baer Jr.
How Serious Is The Threat Of Impeachment? And To Whom?, Harold Baer Jr.
Michigan Law Review
While a slender volume, The Federal Impeachment Process offers the reader a variety of different insights on this topic, beginning with the debates at the Constitutional Convention and running to the modem-day practice of impeachment trials by committee rather than by the full senate. Impeachment is valuable reading, not just for those of us interested in American history, or those of us who are public officers of the United States, but for every American who wants to understand his or her morning newspaper better. Not only does it lift the veil of darkness surrounding the impeachment process, it provides a …
Impeachment In America, 1635-1805, Michigan Law Review
Impeachment In America, 1635-1805, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Impeachment in America, 1635-1805 by Peter Charles Hoffer and N.E.H. Hull
Judicial Impeachments And The Struggle For Democracy In South Carolina, James W. Ely, Jr.
Judicial Impeachments And The Struggle For Democracy In South Carolina, James W. Ely, Jr.
Vanderbilt Law Review
Judicial tenure had become a sensitive issue in the colonies before the American Revolution. Although the Act of Settlement of 1701 guaranteed tenure during good behavior for judges in England, this statute did not extend to the colonies, and royal governors regularly were instructed to issue judicial commissions at the pleasure of the Crown. Judges in New York briefly secured appointments for good behavior during the 1750's, but in 1761 the King in Council directed that henceforth no commission could be granted except at pleasure. In 1759 the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a measure providing that judges in that colony would …
Kauper's 'Judicial Examination Of The Accused' Forty Years Later—Some Comments On A Remarkable Article, Yale Kamisar
Kauper's 'Judicial Examination Of The Accused' Forty Years Later—Some Comments On A Remarkable Article, Yale Kamisar
Articles
For a long time before Professor Paul Kauper wrote "Judicial Examination of the Accused" in 1932, and for a long time thereafter, the "legal mind" shut out the de facto inquisitorial system that characterized American criminal procedure. Paul Kauper could not look away. He recognized the "naked, ugly facts" (p. 1224) and was determined to do something about them -more than thirty years before Escobedo v. Illinois' or Miranda v. Arizona.2
Grand Jury Secrecy, Richard M. Calkins
Grand Jury Secrecy, Richard M. Calkins
Michigan Law Review
When a leading state such as Illinois enacts "reform" legislation, an impact on the legislatures of other jurisdictions may be anticipated. Accordingly, a need exists for an examination of this legislation in the light of the common-law background of grand jury secrecy and for a further analysis of it in the face of the growing trend toward more liberalized discovery of grand jury minutes in other jurisdictions. It is the contention of the author that such an empirical study will demonstrate that this legislation adopted by Illinois is contrary to all modern judicial thinking and is, in fact, a retrogressive …
The Presidential Succession Act Of I947, Ruth C. Silva
The Presidential Succession Act Of I947, Ruth C. Silva
Michigan Law Review
The Constitution of the United States empowers the Congress to designate what officer shall act as President in case of the death, resignation, removal, or inability of both the President and Vice President. Recently the Eightieth Congress passed a statute under this grant of power. Although the new succession act is frequently alleged to be unconstitutional, it is similar to the first succession law enacted by the Second Congress, which contained many of the men who framed the Constitution and voted for its ratification. The law of 1792 provided that the President pro tempore of the Senate or, if the …