Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide

by Cass R. Sunstein

Madison responded to the concern that a president might seek to secure ratification of a treaty by exploiting the quorum requirement (two-thirds of the senators who are present), thus allowing senators from a small number of states to injure others, whose senators were not in attendance. Madison said, “Were the President to commit any thing so atrocious as to summon only a few states, he would be impeached and convicted, as a majority of states would be affected by his misdemeanor.”5 From the modern standpoint, the particular hypothetical might seem a bit crazy, but it reflects a broader principle. No crime is necessary. If the president is acting in an “atrocious” way that harms most of the states, he is committing a “misdemeanor,” even if no violation of the law is involved.