4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers
of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for,
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.

Impeachment

"CIVIL OFFICER"

A Member of Congress is not a civil officer within the meaning of this
section; nor is a private citizen subject to impeachment;[478] but
resignation of an officer does not give immunity from impeachment for
acts committed while in office.[479]

"HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS"

Most of the States have drafted their constitutional provisions on this
subject in similar language. As there is no enumeration of offenses
comprised under the last two categories, no little difficulty has been
experienced in defining offenses in such a way that they fall within the
meaning of the constitutional provisions. But impeachable offenses were
not defined in England, and it was not the intention that the
Constitution should attempt an enumeration of crimes or offenses for
which an impeachment would lie. Treason and bribery have always been
offenses whose nature was clearly understood. Other high crimes and
misdemeanors which might be made causes for the impeachment of civil
officers were those which embraced any misbehavior while in office.
Madison, whose objection led to the insertion of the more definite
phrase high crimes and misdemeanors, was the strongest advocate of a
broad construction of the impeachment power. He argued that incapacity,
negligence, or perfidy of the Chief Magistrate should be ground for
impeachment.[480] Again, in discussing the President's power of removal,
he maintained that the wanton removal from office of meritorious
officers would be an act of maladministration, and would render the
President liable to impeachment.[481] Hamilton thought the proceeding
could "never be tied down by such strict rules, either in the
delineation of the offense by the prosecutors, or in the construction of
it by the judges, as in common cases serve to limit the discretion of
the courts in favor of personal security."[482]

THE CHASE IMPEACHMENT

The above relatively flexible conception of "high crimes and
misdemeanors" was, however, early replaced by a much more rigid one in
consequence of Jefferson's efforts to diminish the importance of the
Supreme Court, the first step in which enterprise was the impeachment in
1805 of Justice Samuel Chase. The theory of Chase's enemies was given