A constitutional Crisis

For example, the constitution may fail to provide a clear answer for a specific situation; the constitution may be clear but it may be politically infeasible to follow it. 

In the course of government, the crisis results when one or more of the parties to a political dispute willfully chooses to violate a law of the constitution; or to flout an unwritten constitutional convention; or to dispute the correct, legal interpretation of the violated constitutional law or of the flouted political custom. Moreover, if the crisis arises because the constitution is legally ambiguous, the ultimate politico-legal resolution usually establishes the legal precedent to resolve future crises of constitutional administration. 

, the Constitution does not explicitly address the matter of whether or not a state can legally secede from the Union; however, after the American Civil War (1861–1865) thwarted the secession of the Southern United States, the accepted doctrine of constitutional law is that a state cannot legally leave the Union. 

Politically, a constitutional crisis can lead to administrative paralysis and eventual collapse of the government, the loss of political legitimacy, or to civil war.

• In the Watergate scandal (1972–74), President Richard Nixon and his staff obstructed investigations into their political activities. Nixon resigned, under threat of impeachment, after the release of an audio tape showing that he had personally approved the obstruction. Congressional moves to restrain presidential authority continued for years afterward.^[17][18] The dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on October 20, 1973, led to the Independent Counsel Act for a more impartial way of investigating high-level public integrity cases in the executive branch without interference from the President or other executive branch leaders. Prior to the Independent Counsel Act a Special Prosecutor was still under the authority of the President and any investigations into the executive branch could be stopped by the President by simply firing the Special Prosecutor. 

References[edit]

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