"...The theory of the "unitary executive" which Republicans have invented in recent decades, seems to hold that the President can use all his powers, including the power to communicate with foreign governments, in any way that he chooses, without any interference from the other branches of government. Yet the impeachment clause of the Constitution proves that this was not what the framers intended, and as I showed in my earlier piece, "high crimes and misdemeanors," a term borrowed from British practice, included both the corrupt and the incompetent use of executive power...." DK
Impeachment had already gone out of fashion in Britain at the time of the American Rebellion.
That did not stop the drafters from including this constitutional barnacle.
Why should not the President use all his powers, including the power to communicate with foreign governments, in any way he chooses, without any interference from other branches?
That is an expression of a chief executive rather than of a unitary executive branch, it seems to me.
He has the authority to direct any secretary of any department to do the same on his behalf and in his name, or to so order a subordinate of that secretary in his name, anyway, under the Constitution.
See also Impeachment in the United Kingdom, Wikipedia.
Impeachment offenses had also included high treason.
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