… An impeachment process is informed by legal standards and judicial norms. But since America has never removed a sitting president from office using impeachment, no one knows how it works. There is no precedent. We’re literally making this up as we go along. The constitution tells us that presidents can be impeached for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” But, how do the constitutional standards help us understand when we’re in the midst of a political situation that could arise to those standards, according to Congress and public?
I came up with 6 characteristics of a scandal that elevate its political status. These characteristics are not based in deep political science theory, and they resemble the elements of a plot to a best-selling political thriller novel. They are characteristics that, in my own personal reading of the news and history, seem to take things up a political DEFCON level. This is a qualitative hot take and appropriate caveats apply (the list is not comprehensive and the categories are almost certainly not equally weighted). CONT.
Jennifer N. Victor (George Mason U.), Mischiefs of Faction
