Cass Sunstein

Cass Sunstein is the legal scholar whose [[ImpeachmentBook|《弹劾》]] supplies the main framework for 173.弹劾：如何罢免一位总统. The episode introduces him as a highly cited law professor with government advisory and regulatory experience, then uses his view to separate [[PresidentialImpeachment|presidential impeachment]] from ordinary criminal punishment or partisan rejection.

The source’s Sunstein is a cautious constitutional thinker. He accepts that impeachment must be available when a president abuses power, betrays public trust, or damages the constitutional order, but he resists turning it into a flexible tool for punishing bad policy, general unfitness, ordinary illegality, or dislike of a president.

Source Position

• Sunstein’s central claim in the episode is that impeachment repairs the constitutional system rather than punishing bad people.
• His view keeps High Crimes And Misdemeanors tied to office abuse, public trust, and constitutional order.
• The episode connects his caution about impeachment to a broader reluctance to smuggle constitutional change through loose interpretation.
• His prior work on limited rationality and “nudge” policy is used to characterize his general preference for institutionally cautious design.

Connections

• [[ImpeachmentBook|《弹劾》]] - book used as the episode’s main reference.
• Presidential Impeachment and High Crimes And Misdemeanors - concepts most directly shaped by his framework.
• Bill Clinton, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump - cases used in the episode to test the framework.
• United States Constitution, Separation Of Powers, and Constitutional Robustness - institutional frame around his argument.