In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton warned that “the greatest danger” of Congress abusing its power to impeach would be if “the decision [to impeach] will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.” The impeachment of the Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, by a partisan vote of 214-213 manifests this danger.

The original vote not to impeach was 214-216. Nothing about the guilt or innocence of Mr. Mayorkas changed in the time between the votes. The only thing that did change was the number of Republicans and Democrats available to cast votes in the House on a particular day. The one-vote margin for impeachment resulted from the fortuity — for the Republicans — that one Democrat tested positive for Covid, and another was delayed by a mechanical problem on his airplane. Had they both been able to vote no, as they intended to, impeachment would have been denied again.

Mr. Mayorkas is the first cabinet member in American history to be impeached by the House of Representatives but he will surely not be the last. Partisan impeachment will now become a norm based on “the comparative strength of the parties,” rather than “real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.”  The prior impeachments of Presidents Clinton and Trump set the stage for this partisan abuse of the Constitution by both parties, but the impeachment of Mr. Mayorkas makes the precedent even more likely to become routine against all officeholders.