Impeachment

On February 12th, 1999 President Clinton was acquitted of impeachment charges by the US Senate.  Here are 10 books about impeachment.

The Case Against Impeaching Trump by Alan Dershowitz - The Case Against Impeaching Trump seeks to reorient the debate over impeachment to the same standard that Dershowitz has continued to uphold for decades: the law of the United States of America, as established by the Constitution. In the author's own words:
"In the fervor to impeach President Trump, his political enemies have ignored the text of the Constitution. As a civil libertarian who voted against Trump, I remind those who would impeach him not to run roughshod over a document that has protected us all for two and a quarter centuries. In this case against impeachment, I make arguments similar to those I made against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton (and that I would be making had Hillary Clinton been elected and Republicans were seeking to impeach her). Impeachment and removal of a president are not entirely political decisions by Congress. Every member takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution sets out specific substantive criteria that MUST be met.
I am thrilled to contribute to this important debate and especially that my book will be so quickly available to readers so they can make up their own minds."

The Case For Impeaching Trump by Elizabeth Holtzman - Elizabeth Holtzman has been a principled leader and a persistent voice for equality and accountability since she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 1973, which she remained for forty-two years. But she sees American democratic ideals, and the rule of law in the United States, eroding under President Trump. And as a member of the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach Nixon, and one of the members of the Homeland Security advisory council who resigned in protest of President Donald Trump's policy of separating families at the border, former Congresswoman Holtzman knows that of which she speaks:
"President Donald Trump threatens our democracy. He lies, attacks our constitution, assaults the press, and obstructs justice. He causes unfathomable damage. The Constitution has a remedy for presidents who commit 'great and dangerous offenses': impeachment.
A fair, lawful, bipartisan impeachment inquiry into President Trump means getting to the bottom of things. It means analyzing with a clear head and heart what President Trump has done and what the law requires.
Impeaching a president is a grave undertaking. The compassionate and diverse America I know demands we get ready to do it."

The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing George W. Bush From Office by Dave Lindorff & Barbara Olshansky - Methodically detailing the Bush regime's offenses and refuting its lies and deceptions, investigative reporter Dave Lindorff and constitutional rights specialist Barbara Olshansky explain why the president and his inner circle should be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. Among the most grievous harms:
misleading the nation into war
authorizing and encouraging the use of torture
failing in almost every way to defend the homeland and our borders
undermining habeas corpus and other traditional rights
illegal NSA wiretapping, mail opening, and other assaults on the Bill of Rights
the catastrophic federal failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina

The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump by Ronald Fein, John Bonifaz, & Ben Clements - Written by a trio of veteran constitutional attorneys, The Constitution Demands It details a short, concise argument that says the founding fathers foresaw what to do when you end up with a corrupt, incompetent, and/or criminal president... and invented impeachment for exactly the current American scenario. In clear, accessible language, they make the case, defining the major impeachable charges against Donald Trump, and explain the argument for each 'article of impeachment.

Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation by Kenneth Starr - Twenty years after the Starr Report and the Clinton impeachment, former special prosecutor Ken Starr shares his account of one of the most divisive periods in American history. Bill and Hillary Clinton have told their version of events, as have journalists and participants. But what if the popular media in the 1990s completely misunderstood Starr's motives, his tactics, and his ultimate goal: to ensure that no one, especially not the president of the United States, is above the law? Here, Starr sheds light on everything he couldn't tell us during the Clinton years, even in his carefully detailed "Starr Report" of September 1998.

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr by Ken Gormley - A professor at Duquesne University Law School details the wide-ranging investigation into President Clinton "that divided the nation and nearly toppled Clinton's presidency. From special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr's initial probe of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas to the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit to the Monidca Lewinsky affair, culminating in a dramatic Senate impeachment trial," the author relies on exclusive interviews with President Clinton, Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky and family, Linda Tripp, Paula Jones, Susan McDougal and many other key players as well as documents from the Justice Dpeartment's internal investigation into Starr.

Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy by David Stewart - In an elegantly detailed, archivally driven historical narrative, Stewart takes readers on a crescendo-building ride from a monthly introduction of the period to weekly personal and political antics to daily movements of key actors in the impeachment of the 17th president. Along the way, the author reveals the struggle by shifting political alliances to define the indeterminate meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors as an impeachable offense. Stewart deftly walks readers through "schemes to replace Congress"; series of false starts; Senator Stevens's "resolve to oust Johnson"; standoffs at the War Department; and corruption, bribery, and vote buying to reveal the commonplace amid the uncommon in 19th-century politics. Presenting the noble Grant alongside the pawn adjutant general and rogues, rascals, and the corrupt and greedy, Stewart delivers a "historical work that [is] both fascinating and frustrating", a study "seething with contradictions that have fostered equally contradictory views". In the end, Johnson's acquittal barely altered the inherent executive-legislative relationship; failed to elucidate the meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors; strengthened the importance of partisan politics; and left as a purposeful unanswered question the legacy of Lincoln.

Impeaching the President: Past, Present, and Future by Alan Hirsch - It seems quite possible that President Trump will be impeached. Concerns about connections with Russia's attack on our elections, obstruction of justice, illicit business deals, and compromised classified intelligence dominate the news. Robert Mueller's fast-moving investigation has already resulted in arrests, indictments, guilty pleas, and high-level cooperating witnesses. Anything can happen.
In response to the complexity of a rapidly evolving situation, constitutional scholar Alan Hirsch offers clear and to-the-point guidance for all matters relating to removing a sitting president--from the Founder's constitutional protections against executive criminality, and the instructive impeachment stories of presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, to the particular ways that Donald Trump may be legally vulnerable, and the possibilities and limitations of presidential self-pardon.
Illustrated throughout with historical engravings, photographs, and other impeachment documentation, Impeaching the President does not advocate for any particular course of action, nor make any predictions about Trump's future. Rather, this concise, timely, and accessible analysis offers historical lessons and a perspective on how the Constitution provides stability during times of political uncertainty and crisis.

Impeachment: An American History by Jeffrey Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, & Peter Baker - Four experts on the American presidency review the only three impeachment cases from history--against Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton--and explore its power and meaning for today. Impeachment is rare, and for good reason. Designed to check tyrants or defend the nation from a commander-in-chief who refuses to do so, the process of impeachment outlined in the Constitution is what Thomas Jefferson called "the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived." It nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of legitimacy for all representative democracies. Only three times has a president's conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one... These three cases highlight factors beyond the president's behavior that impact the likelihood and outcome of an impeachment: the president's relationship with Congress, the power and resilience of the office itself, and the polarization of the moment. This is a realist, rather than hypothetical, view of impeachment that looks to history for clues about its future--with one obvious candidate in mind.

To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment by Laurence Tribe & Joshua Matz - To End a Presidency addresses one of today's most urgent questions: when and whether to impeach a president. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz provide an authoritative guide to impeachment's past and a bold argument about its proper role today. In an era of expansive presidential power and intense partisanship, we must rethink impeachment for the twenty-first century. Of impeachments, one Constitutional Convention delegate declared, "A good magistrate will not fear them. A bad one will be kept in fear of them." To End a Presidency is an essential book for all Americans seeking to understand how this crucial but fearsome power should be exercised.