Thread by @ABustedBoomer

In 1867, some two years after #AndrewJohnson assumed the Presidency on the assassination of #AbrahamLincoln, a crisis arose between the two #political branches of the government.

That crisis culminated in Johnson's impeachment in the House of Representatives and his acquittal by the Senate.

But with what "high crime" or "misdemeanor" was Johnson charged?

Johnson had vetoed a statute, the Tenure in Office Act, but Congress overrode his veto and the Act became the law. Under the TOA, the President was barred from removing any executive officer of the government whose appointment was subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

Despite the Act, Johnson fired the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. Stanton was a holdover member of the cabinet who'd served President Lincoln.

There is some thought that Johnson had held a grudge against Stanton since Johnson was convinced to sign the death warrant for Mary Surratt, who was convicted of participating in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln.

Stanton may have withheld from the President the fact that several members of the military tribunal had thought Surratt's death sentence should be commuted to imprisonment.

In any event, in Johnson's view, it was time for Stanton to go, and he said so in a telegram.

Stanton refused to resign. He actually took up a position in his office, blockaded the same, and refused to depart.

Johnson fired Stanton and the stage was set for Johnson's impeachment.

Although the House impeached Johnson, the Senate trial acquitted Johnson by a single vote.

Some seventy years later, the question raised by Johnson's firing of the cabinet officer and the constitutionality of the Tenure in Office Act were resolved in favor of the power of the President in a Supreme Court case, Myers v. United States.

This morning, I'm listening to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Bill Barr to serve as Attorney General.

Senator Dianne Feinstein's opening statement is what brings me back to the sordid Johnson impeachment and the history of Congress' UNCONSTITUTIONAL Tenure in Office Act.

Despite the Supreme Court's CLEAR TEACHING about the Tenure in Office Act -- that the Act violated the separation of powers between Congress and the Presidency -- Feinstein has stated that she will use the hearing to inquire into this point

... as though the Senate had actually voted to remove President Johnson and as though the Supreme Court had concluded that the Tenure in Office Act was constitutional!

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