IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 779 

To establish prospective standards effective January 20, 2017 defining impeachable ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ within the meaning of Article 

II, section 4 as applied to the President of the United States to provide 

fair warning and evenhandedness in the administration of the impeachment power of the House of Representatives. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2014 

Mr. BENTIVOLIO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

To establish prospective standards effective January 20, 

2017 defining impeachable ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ within the meaning of Article II, section 

4 as applied to the President of the United States to 

provide fair warning and evenhandedness in the administration of the impeachment power of the House of Representatives. 

Whereas Article II, section 4 of the Constitution provides 

that, ‘‘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’’; 


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•HRES 779 IH 

Whereas Article I, section 2, clause 5 provides that, ‘‘The 

House of Representatives . . . shall have the sole power 

of impeachment’’; 

Whereas Benjamin Franklin at the constitutional convention 

described the impeachment power as the alternative to 

the historical practice of assassination to remove tyrants; 

Whereas the constitutional convention rejected ‘‘neglect of 

duty’’ or ‘‘maladministration’’ as impeachment standards 

in favor of ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ because the 

former terms were too broad; 

Whereas Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65 explained that 

impeachable offenses ‘‘proceed from the misconduct of 

public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which 

may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately 

to the society itself’’; 

Whereas impeachable ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ has 

an objective meaning based on the intent of the Constitution’s framers and British impeachment precedents; 

Whereas then Congressman Gerald R. Ford erred in 1970 

when he declared that, ‘‘An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers 

it to be at a given moment in history’’; 

Whereas the House of Representatives has voted articles of 

impeachment against two Presidents, one Cabinet officer, 

one Senator, one Supreme Court Justice, and eleven (11) 

Federal judges without providing a general standard for 

defining an impeachable offense; 

Whereas the law should warn before it strikes; 


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Whereas the absence of impeachment standards creates an 

appearance that impeachment is a partisan exercise, 

which undermines its legitimacy and deters its use; 

Whereas the impeachment power of the House of Representatives is a cornerstone safeguard against Presidential tyranny; 

Whereas the past neglect of the House of Representatives to 

use the impeachment power against Presidential 

usurpations and lawlessness has concentrated alarming 

power in the executive branch, crippled liberty, undermined transparency, and encouraged Presidents to further aggrandizements; and 

Whereas it would be unfair and would carry an appearance 

of partisanship if newly articulated impeachment standards were applied to the incumbent President: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. DEFINITION OF PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHABLE 

3 OFFENSES. 

4 The House of Representatives declares that the fol5 lowing Presidential actions shall constitute impeachable 

6 ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ within the meaning of 

7 Article II, section 4, which will cause the House to vote 

8 an article or articles of impeachment to send to the Senate 

9 for trial— 

10 (1) initiating war without express congressional 

11 authorization; 


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1 (2) killing American citizens in the United 

2 States or abroad who are not then engaged in active 

3 hostilities against the United States without due 

4 process (unless the citizen was then under indict5 ment for a felony and the killing was necessary to 

6 prevent imminent serious physical danger to third 

7 parties); 

8 (3) failing to superintend subordinates guilty of 

9 chronic constitutional abuses; 

10 (4) expending money in violation of conditions 

11 imposed for the expenditure of appropriated funds; 

12 (5) intentionally lying to Congress to obtain an 

13 authorization for war; 

14 (6) failing to take care that the laws be faith15 fully executed through signing statements or system16 atic policies of non-enforcement; 

17 (7) substituting executive agreements for trea18 ties; 

19 (8) intentionally lying under oath to a Federal 

20 judge or grand jury; 

21 (9) misusing Federal agencies to advance a par22 tisan political agenda; and 

23 (10) refusing to comply with a congressional 

24 subpoena for documents or testimony issued for a le25 gitimate legislative purpose. 


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1 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Resolution shall take effect on January 20, 

3 2017. 

Æ 


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