The Third Impeachment Article: Congressional Bootstrapping

Abstract

Despite popular opinion at the time, this article argues that Congress did not have the authority to decide the constitutionality of President Nixon's actions under the third article of impeachment raised against him, which regarded his rejection of the subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary Committee. This paper reasons that to hold otherwise effectively allows Congress to use the impeachment power as a means to define the limits of the Executory Branch in whatever way Congress sees fit.

Keywords: Nixon, Watergate, president, impeachment