Presidential impeachments are rare in American constitutional history: in the 230 years since ratification, only three presidents have faced serious attempts to remove them from office. A new paper from Cato scholar Gene Healy examines the myths surrounding impeachment, such as it’s restricted to purely criminal abuses. But the remedy James Madison described as “indispensable…for defending the community against the incapacity, negligence, or perfidy of the Chief Magistrate” isn’t limited to violations of the law or abuses of official power. The power to impeach, writes Healy, “should never be invoked lightly, but neither should Americans fear to wield it, should it become necessary.”

• “Indispensable Remedy: The Broad Scope of the Constitution’s Impeachment Power,” by Gene Healy
• “Indispensable Remedy: The Broad Scope of the Constitution’s Impeachment Power,” Podcast featuring Gene Healy

Since the early 1990s, several states have passed restrictions on firearm magazines as a purported public safety measure. To date, the Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to hear cases surrounding these “high‐​capacity” magazine bans. This has led to a fractured and unpredictable state of the law. In a new bulletin, Cato scholar Matthew Larosiere argues that these laws, as well as the “assault weapon” bans they tend to come packaged with, are abridgments of the natural right to self‐​defense. Moreover, says Larosiere, they fail to provide sufficient benefit to justify their inherent costs.