House Committees’ Authority to Investigate for Impeachment
35
ty of impeaching.” Id. at 984; see 18 Annals of Cong. 2069 (1808). The
House then passed a resolution forming a committee to conduct an in-
quiry, which included the “power to send for persons, papers, and rec-
ords” but, like most inquiries to follow, did not result in impeachment. 18
Annals of Cong. at 2189; 3 Hinds’ Precedents § 2487, at 984.
Over the course of more than two centuries thereafter, members of the
House introduced resolutions to impeach, or to investigate for potential
impeachment, dozens more federal judges, and the House continued,
virtually without exception, to provide an express authorization before
any committee proceeded to exercise investigative powers.
26
In one 1874
case, the Judiciary Committee realized only after witnesses had traveled
from Arkansas that it could not find any resolution granting it compulsory
powers to investigate previously referred charges against Judge William
Story. See 2 Cong. Rec. 1825, 3438 (1874); 3 Hinds’ Precedents § 2513,
at 1023. In order to “cure” that “defect,” the committee reported a privi-
leged resolution to the floor of the House that would grant the committee
“power to send for persons and papers” as part of the impeachment inves-
26
See, e.g., 3 Hinds’ Precedents § 2489, at 986 (William Van Ness, Mathias
Tallmadge, and William Stephens, 1818); id. § 2490, at 987 (Joseph Smith, 1825); id.
§ 2364, at 774 (James Peck, 1830); id. § 2492, at 990 (Alfred Conkling, 1830); id. § 2491,
at 989 (Buckner Thurston, 1837); id. § 2494, at 993–94 (P.K. Lawrence, 1839); id.
§§ 2495, 2497, 2499, at 994, 998, 1003 (John Watrous, 1852–60); id. § 2500, at 1005
(Thomas Irwin, 1859); id. § 2385, at 805 (West Humphreys, 1862); id. § 2503, at 1008
(anonymous justice of the Supreme Court, 1868); id. § 2504, at 1008–09 (Mark Delahay,
1872); id. § 2506, at 1011 (Edward Durell, 1873); id. § 2512, at 1021 (Richard Busteed,
1873); id. § 2516, at 1027 (Henry Blodgett, 1879); id. §§ 2517–18, at 1028, 1030–31
(Aleck Boarman, 1890–92); id. § 2519, at 1032 (J.G. Jenkins, 1894); id. § 2520, at 1033
(Augustus Ricks, 1895); id. § 2469, at 949–50 (Charles Swayne, 1903); 6 Clarence
Cannon, Cannon’s Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United States § 498,
at 685 (1936) (Robert Archbald, 1912); id. § 526, at 746–47 (Cornelius H. Hanford,
1912); id. § 527, at 749 (Emory Speer, 1913); id. § 528, at 753 (Daniel Wright, 1914); id.
§ 529, at 756 (Alston Dayton, 1915); id. § 543, at 777–78 (William Baker, 1924); id.
§ 544, at 778–79 (George English, 1925); id. § 549, at 789–90 (Frank Cooper, 1927); id.
§ 550, at 791–92 (Francis Winslow, 1929); id. § 551, at 793 (Harry Anderson, 1930); id.
§ 552, at 794 (Grover Moscowitz, 1930); id. § 513, at 709–10 (Harold Louderback, 1932);
3 Deschler’s Precedents ch. 14, § 14.4, at 2143 (James Lowell, 1933); id. § 18.1, at 2205–
06 (Halsted Ritter, 1933); id. § 14.10, at 2148 (Albert Johnson and Albert Watson, 1944);
H.R. Res. 1066, 94th Cong. (1976) (certain federal judges); H.R. Res. 966, 95th Cong.
(1978) (Frank Battisti); see also 51 Cong. Rec. 6559–60 (1914) (noting passage of
authorizing resolution for investigation of Daniel Wright); 68 Cong. Rec. 3532 (1927)
(same for Frank Cooper).