If Kamala Harris is elected President, can she be automatically impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors?

In a television interview, Kamala Harris admitted that she smoked marijuana in the 1980's while attending Law school in California. IF she had been caught at the time, she would have been convicted of a misdemeanor. There is not even a remote chance of prosecuting now because California has a three year prosecution window on drug related crimes.

If she had stolen something under $950.00 the time limit would be one year and that would also be a misdemeanor, and we wouldn't vote for a thief to be President. However, admitting you have done drugs which was, at the time, worthy of prosecution, while attending Law School (with an attendant possible misdemeanor sentence), on National television does seem to be...I don't know. Just plain old wrong. It seems to show a disregard for the Law she was supposed to be studying. And I don't know if I want a President who is so dumb she goes on National television and tells on herself.

What do you think?

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Xuan12 · 31-35, M

That's not necessarily the definition of a high misdemeanor. I mean, jaywalking can be a misdemeanor but it's nothing that serious litigation would follow. I mean, in Little Rock, honking your horn near a restaurant is a misdemeanor after 9PM.

4meAndyou · F

@Xuan12 It is stated as "high crimes and misdemeanors", but what she did, if she had been caught, would have been prosecuted as a real misdemeanor, (not as a felony). Prosecution, not litigation, would have been pursued if she had been caught, which she was not. Marijuana was classified as a Schedule I opiate.

She could have served up to a year in jail and/or could have paid a fine of $500.00, because in the 1980's drug possession, even in small amounts, was no joke.

As I was saying to MistyCee, below, it's not a really "serious" question in the legal sense because she was never caught, and after three years was not prosecutable.

It's more like...how can someone study the Law while breaking it? Was her attitude toward the law like...."It doesn't apply to me but it applies to you?"

And how effing stupid was it to go on National television and out herself? That shows an effed up thinking process. She probably smoked too much pot when she was young.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@4meAndyou Probably she was figuring it'd be easier to admit it then just wait for someone to find out. But the original point was that the definition of a "high crime or misdemeanor" isn't the same as any crime or misdemeanor. To commit a "high" crime or misdemeanor, you have to be in a special position of power, which Harris was not while she was in law school. She was just a student. At least if you wanted to use the definition of the term when the Constitution was written. If you wish to interpret it in a more modern sense, there really isn't a definition. The term is subjective and at the whim of congress and the courts.

4meAndyou · F

@Xuan12 "The offenses for which presidents, vice presidents, and all civil officers, including federal judges, can be removed from office through a process called Impeachment."

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/High+Crimes+and+Misdemeanors

All civil officers. She is now a civil officer. She was not while she was in college. But now we're getting into Kavanaugh territory.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@4meAndyou Meh, Donald Trump is president, nobody's past matters. XD

4meAndyou · F

@Xuan12 I still don't want a pot smoking hypocrite pretending she is for law and order and she is not.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@4meAndyou If you feel that strongly about pot smoking, I suggest you refrain from political inquiry, for the sake of your mental health.

4meAndyou · F

@Xuan12 😂I smoked pot, myself, (one of the ex's relatives was his dealer, and you couldn't NOT smoke when he came over, he was just that paranoid). It's all fresh in my mind because I just answered Nimbus's question about it yesterday, (mostly cribbed from WebMD), and I certainly wouldn't trust MYSELF to be President now after I read about the effects of pot on an undeveloped brain. And Kamala Harris bragged that she was from a family of Jamaicans.

And I will take your very kind suggestion with all the importance it merits.