Thread by @jedshug

What is a high misdemeanor?
Historically, a fiduciary breach of the duties of office, including:
"Acting outside authority...and issuing unlawful and irregular orders" (Comyns, 1780)
See Robert Natelson (building on a 1975 article by Rogers and Young) 1/
fedsoc.org/commentary/pub…

2/ "At the federal convention, Madison argued that an impeachment procedure for the President was necessary because:
'it [was] indispensable that some provision should be made for defending the Community agst [sic] the incapacity, negligence or perfidy of the chief Magistrate...

3/ Madison continued on the basis for high misdemeanors and removal: "He might lose his capacity after his appointment. He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression. He might betray his trust to foreign powers.”

4/ "When defending the Constitution in South Carolina, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney pointed out that impeachment would be available for federal officers who 'behave amiss, or betray their public trust,' and his ally Edward Rutledge made a similar statement in the same context."

5/ "At the VA ratifying convention, Randolph saw [impeachment] as a remedy for dishonesty, disloyalty, & self-dealing. Nicholas & Madison referred to it as a remedy for maladministration and violating the national interest, and Patrick Henry as a response to 'violation of duty.'”

6/ Natelson concludes: "We best capture the meaning of the phrase 'high Misdemeanors' when we think of it as referring to breaches of fiduciary duty. High misdemeanors are not limited to commission of crimes, but they do not include mere political differences..."

7/ "While violations of the crim law provide grounds for impeachment, high misdemeanors encompass breaches of the duties of loyalty, good faith & care, and of the obligations to account and to follow instructions (including the law & Constitution) when administering one’s office.