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"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 …