The delegates rejected that suggestion too, in favor of an approach supported by North Carolina’s Hugh Williamson, which would allow removal by “impeachment & conviction” on the basis of “mal-practice or neglect of duty.”30 That language is pretty broad; it seems to suggest that impeachment could occur for either bad actions (malpractice) or bad omissions (neglect). And indeed, Williamson drew directly from his home state, where impeachment was available for “offenses against the public interest which need not be indictable under the criminal law.”
