Impeachment, Cass R. Sunstein
Impeachment, Cass R. Sunstein
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Impeachment
A Citizen’s Guide

Author: Cass R. Sunstein

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 4 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/03/2018


Synopsis

As Benjamin Franklin famously put it, Americans have a republic, if we can keep it. Preserving the Constitution and the democratic system it supports is the public’s responsibility. One route the Constitution provides for discharging that duty―a route rarely traveled―is impeachment.Cass R. Sunstein provides a succinct citizen’s guide to an essential tool of self-government. He illuminates the constitutional design behind impeachment and emphasizes the people’s role in holding presidents accountable. Despite intense interest in the subject, impeachment is widely misunderstood. Sunstein identifies and corrects a number of misconceptions. For example, he shows that the Constitution, not the House of Representatives, establishes grounds for impeachment, and that the president can be impeached for abuses of power that do not violate the law. Even neglect of duty counts among the “high crimes and misdemeanors” delineated in the republic’s foundational document. Sunstein describes how impeachment helps make sense of our constitutional order, particularly the framers’ controversial decision to install an empowered executive in a nation deeply fearful of kings.With an eye toward the past and the future, Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide considers a host of actual and imaginable arguments for a president’s removal, explaining why some cases are easy and others hard, why some arguments for impeachment have been judicious and others not. In direct and approachable terms, it dispels the fog surrounding impeachment so that Americans of all political convictions may use their ultimate civic authority wisely.

About Cass R. Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein has written many articles and books, including Simpler: The Future of Government and Wiser: Getting beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter. He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, where he is the founder and director of the program on behavioral Eeonomics and public policy. He is by far the most cited law professor in the United States. From 2009 to 2012 he served in the Obama administration as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He has testified before congressional committees, appeared on national television and radio shows, been involved in constitution-making and law-reform activities in a number of nations.

About Joe Barrett

Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Richard on June 24, 2023

I think the law is fascinating. I’ve said something like this on Goodreads before, but let me repeat it: Imagine of a bunch of philosophers arguing some complex point. They decide they’re going to agree to disagree, because the problem is a hard one. But someone comes in and tells them: nope, you’re......more

Goodreads review by Keith on January 22, 2018

Impeachment is not an anti-Trump screed, nor is it a dry dissertation on Constitutional law. Sunstein's book is an engaging exploration of the impeachment clause of the US Constitution, what the framers of the Constitution were thinking when they wrote it and how it has been interpreted over the yea......more

Goodreads review by Lenny on December 28, 2017

How does one achieve the stature of Cass Sunstein? Famous in both academia and government, the Harvard Law professor seems to pop up in so many areas of policy that I wonder if he even has a specialty. His ubiquity in the public square is explained, in part, by his ability to quickly dash off missiv......more

Goodreads review by Ed on July 05, 2020

No current politicians or scandals are mentioned in this book.* It is about the history of the idea of impeachment in the USA, and even back into England. Excellent and informative. A lot of the book focuses on what exactly are impeachable offenses. It will probably surprise you. Committing a crime i......more

Goodreads review by HR-ML on March 06, 2024

Sunstein was a trained attorney, law professor, and also as a lawyer in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) inside the Dept. of Justice, where he worked assisting Presidents Carter, then Reagan. He had dealings w/ Presidents Clinton and Obama in other capacities. No doubt Sunstein knew the law, but he......more


Quotes

“Sunstein has written the story of impeachment every citizen needs to know. This is a remarkable, essential book.” Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author