What constitutes impeachment?

AP PHOTO President Clinton apologizes for engaging in an "inappropriate" relationship with Monica Lewinsky at a Democratic fundraiser in Florida on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Abuse of power is such a legally vague term that almost no one could be convicted of it in court. Yet abuse of power was the basis of an article of impeachment against President Nixon and is believed to be a charge leveled against President Clinton in the not-yet-released report by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

Even though the Constitution speaks of "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors" as grounds for impeachment, accusations against a chief executive need not even be criminal offenses because, according to legal scholars, impeachment of a president is a hybrid process mixing politics and policy with the law.

"Abuse of power can be any outrageous, abusive conduct or any behavior that is inconsistent with the high office of president, even noncriminal conduct," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.

But Turley, a former Justice Department official and Clinton critic, added that Starr surely has included felonious conduct as well in his report to Congress, crimes such as perjury, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

While Clinton's supporters have argued that Congress should not dwell on lurid details of his sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky, a relationship both have acknowledged, Turley contended that "only the details will reveal whether perjury was committed by Clinton.

"Starr's obligation is to convey to Congress every criminal act this president may have committed," he said.

The wide latitude for impeachable offenses is deeply rooted in American history. Scholars say that those who wrote the Constitution believed they needed a mechanism, as James Madison phrased it, for "defending the community against the incapacity, negligence or perfidy" of the nation's highest official. But neither did they wish to make a president subject to removal because of congressional pique or whim.

09-11-98