ovember’s midterm elections could reshape the last two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. Control of Congress is at stake. If the president’s party loses seats—as is typical—then assuredly his agenda would be derailed. It would also likely lead to his impeachment, along with the impeachment of other controversial officials in his administration.
Impeachment has become more common in American politics in recent years. Democrats impeached Donald Trump twice in his first term. The Senate failed to convict him both times. Yet the power remains poorly understood despite its rising prominence in political discourse.
Keith E. Whittington’s new book aims to fix that. In The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of an Extraordinary Tool, the Yale law professor offers “an explanation of the scope and purpose of the impeachment provisions of the US Constitution.” His goal is to illuminate the impeachment power, “not from the perspective of how it might help or hurt a particular government official but from the perspective of how we have thought and should think about it over the long run.”
