Cliff Stearns: “I come here on the floor today to talk about the definition and the meaning of ``high crimes and misdemeanors.'' The…”

“I come here on the floor today to talk about the definition and the meaning of ``high crimes and misdemeanors.'' The Constitution states that the ``President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.'' This is the standard under which the House Judiciary Committee is currently evaluating Judge Starr's report. But Mr. Speaker, what exactly are high crimes and misdemeanors? To define ``high crimes and misdemeanors'' is to get to the heart of the task of the Committee on the Judiciary. Constitutional provisions related to impeachment arise from English practice, wherein impeachment was employed to remove an official who had abused his office but was under the protection of the crown. To answer that question, I looked to the intent of the framers of the Constitution. They envisioned a government where the only type of person who could achieve the office of the President would, by definition, be a virtuous person. Should a lack of virtue result, the impeachment process was designed to remedy resulting serious offenses against the public trust and our system of government. In fact, James Madison said that the aim of the Constitution was to ``prevent the degeneracy of our leaders. The method of this prevention is the impeachment process.'' Our Founding Fathers adopted this view of impeachment from English law.…”