[SaxxonWoods]

The article is completely correct. No crime is required to impeach, only the requisite number of votes in the House.

[Dave Wright]

Article II Section 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.

This seems pretty clear to me. What part of HIGH CRIMES do you still not understand.

[OA5599]

You might want to review Article 2 Section 4 before stating such things.

[plymaniac]

No crime is required to impeach, only the requisite number of votes in the House.

That is the prevailing view.

But the text of the constitution refers to presidential misconduct as a predicate to the exercise of the impeachment power. So the House could never just rely on a simple majority vote. They would also need to make a finding of misconduct. Even if it's a complete pretext.

But the Federal Courts have historically cited pretext as a basis to invalidate facially valid governmental acts. So in my view this opens up a small window to adjudicate the underlying basis for the impeachment decision. Remember Justice Roberts got cute this summer and basically used this approach via the APA to uphold the ban on the Citizenship Question in the 2020 census.

That being said, the Court will never have the balls to invalidate an impeachment vote on this basis. Even though Kavanaugh and Thomas should know better.

So as a practical matter, you're right. You just need 218 votes.