The recent events with President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky have brought the question of impeachment to the surface. Clinton lied to his family and his country, he had other people lie for him, he tampered with evidence, and basically abused his power as the President. This sort of behavior is appropriately punishable by the Constitution under "High Crime and Misdemeanor", and is vulnerable to impeachment. The per

Since 1797 Congress has impeached fifteen governmental officials. Included in this group are one president, one Supreme Court justice, a senator, a cabinet member, and eleven federal judges. President Nixon is not included in this list because he resigned before he could be impeached. Of these fifteen, seven were convicted. The first person to be impeached on U.S. soil was Senator William Blount of Tennessee, for planing to help the British capture Louisiana and Florida from the Spaniards. Although he was not convicted, he was expelled from Congress. The first person to actually be convicted however was Judge John Pickering. He was found to be mentally unstable after being caught drunk and unruly. Since then there have been various impeachments due to anything from tax fraud, perjury, treason, and bribery. Because impeachment is so costly and time consuming, Congress is very serious when it comes to deciding whether or not the defendant has truly committed an impeachable offense. This is why there is so much controversy with defining "High Crimes and Misdemeanors".

But "there are no specific standards for impeachment," noted Sam Dash, who served as counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. "That means a prosecutor has to make a political as well as a legal judgment as to what would constitute an impeachable offense." High Crimes and Misdemeanors "...has been interpreted as meaning it doesn't have to be a crime," Mr. Dash said. "The definition for what is impeachable is always being reinvented ... Basically impeachment is a political matter." (Washington Post)

In order to gain a better understanding of what "high crimes and misdemeanors" are, we must first review its origin. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, George Mason of Virginia was concerned that the grounds for impeachment were too vague, and that treason and bribery wouldn't cover all crimes. He thus suggested adding "maladministration" as another reason for impeachment. James Madison agreed with the notion of encompassing more crimes, but felt that "maladministration" would grant Congress the power to merely impeach the President because they felt he was doing a poor job. Madison thus suggested "High crimes and punishment", a well-known term in English law, believing that this would cover

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