IMPEACHMENT. The impeachment provisions of the Constitution839 were derived from English practice, but there are important differences. In England, impeachment had a far broader scope. While impeachment was a device to remove from office one who abused his office or misbehaved but who was protected by the Crown, it could be used against anyone—office holder or not—and was penal in nature …
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-4/impeachment
