The impeachment power The law, politics, and purpose of an extraordinary constitutional tool

What exactly is impeachment within the framework of the United States federal government? Whittington (political science, Princeton Univ.; Speak Freely) expertly addresses this question in his very engaging work. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the historical origins of the impeachment power within the English Parliament and how it was modified for the American context; what exactly the Constitution says about impeachment; and how the power has evolved over time. Public perception of impeachment is typically associated with a congressional effort to remove the president. However, that has rarely been attempted. Most impeachments involve federal judges accused of misconduct, and this work references several of the more prominent examples to illustrate how impeachment has been implemented. The impeachment process has some similarities to a judicial process. The U.S. Senate sits as an impeachment court, for example, but the author does an excellent job of explaining how impeachment is more a political process than a legal one. VERDICT Highly recommended for any reader interested in American government and politics.--Joshua Wallace

A leading legal thinker delves into the law and politics of impeachment in this timely study.Impeachmentis one of the most loaded terms in American politics, and one of the most misunderstood. Whittington, a law professor at Yale, aims to unravel the process and set it into the broader political context. Impeachment is usually discussed in terms of the presidency, although it can also be used in response to malfeasance by officers of the executive branch and the judiciary. Whittington tracks through the precedents, as well as the impeachment provisions at state level. The Constitution sets out the mechanics but is vague about the reasons for impeachment, and Whittington provides an interesting chapter on the possible meanings of the "high crimes and misdemeanours" clause. Of course, there have been no occasions when a president has been impeached, convicted, and removed from office, although Nixon probably would have been had he not resigned. More recently, impeachment has been wielded more as a partisan weapon than a legal sanction, first against Clinton and then Trump. The second impeachment of Trump set the precedent that the House does not need hearings or an investigation but simply a majority of votes. Impeachment in that case looked more like a symbolic punishment, and it is not clear where that road might lead in the era of hyperpartisan conflict. Whittington sets all this out in a dispassionate tone, eventually concluding that the impeachment power should remain in the Constitution, even if it sometimes seems outdated. Written with a commendably cool head, Whittington's book will be a key guide for legal experts as well as lay readers. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.