Impeachment of the President Normally Requires a Crime

SAMUEL ESTREICHER, CHRISTOPHER OWENS

NYU law professor Samuel Estreicher and 3L Christopher S. Owens discuss the unique situation of the impeachment of a U.S. President for conduct not alleged to be a crime. Looking to both text and history, Estreicher and Owens argue that commission of a particular, defined crime should be necessary for presidential impeachment for the preservation of the legitimacy and original purpose of that political device, particularly in polarized times such as these.

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U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner v. Escobio

Dockets: 16-16544, 19-11027

Opinion Date: January 6, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure

This case involved the enforcement of a judgment CFTC obtained against defendant which, among other things, ordered defendant to pay $1,543,892 within 10 days in restitution to the investors who fell victim to his commodity-fraud scheme. The Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court's contempt adjudication and its modification of the restitution provisions of its judgment, holding that those provisions constitute a money judgment enforceable under the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act, but not by the district court's civil contempt power. Therefore, the court need not consider defendant's arguments that the district court erred in considering exempt assets or defendant's wife's income in its determination of defendant's ability to pay.

United States v. Oliver

Docket: 17-15565

Opinion Date: January 6, 2020

Judge: Charles R. Wilson

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Eleventh Circuit reversed defendant's sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon. The court held that defendant's prior Georgia conviction for making terroristic threats under O.C.G.A. 16-11-37(a) (2010), is not a predicate violent felony under the elements clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act. The court held that because section 16-11-37(a) is indivisible and overbroad under Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2249 (2016), a violation of that statute categorically does not constitute a predicate offense under the elements clause. Accordingly, the court remanded for resentencing.