Thus the Framers clearly intended that a President should be removed only for offenses `against the United States.' It may also be concluded that the addition of the words `high Crimes and Misdemeanors' was intended to extend the impeachment power of Congress so as to reach `great and dangerous offences,' in Mason's phrase.
The question now before the Senate is whether the acts that form the basis for the Articles of Impeachment against President Clinton rise to the level of `high Crimes and Misdemeanors.' Which is to say, `great and dangerous offences' against the United States.
Over the course of 1998, as we proceeded through various revelations, thence to Impeachment and so on to this trial at the outset of 1999, I found myself asking whether the assorted charges, even if proven, would rise to the standard of `great and dangerous offences' against the United States.
More than one commentator observed that we were dealing with `low crimes.' Matters that can be tried in criminal courts after the President's term expires. ...
Senators, do not take the imprudent risk that removing William Jefferson Clinton for low crimes will not in the end jeopardize the Constitution itself. Censure him by all means. He will be gone in less than two years. But do not let his misdeeds put in jeopardy the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend.