Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

What Powers Does a Formal Impeachment Inquiry Give the House?

By Molly E. Reynolds, Margaret Taylor
Tuesday, May 21, 2019, 1:57 PM

https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-powers-does-formal-impeachment-inquiry-give-house

Several experts have argued that the House might have a stronger legal position in disputes with the executive branch over information and witness appearances if it were undertaking impeachment proceedings rather than investigations.

Michael Conway, who served as counsel on the House judiciary committee during the Watergate investigation, has advanced a similar argument. In particular, he points to a staff memo written in April 1974, which argues that “the Supreme Court has contrasted the broad scope of the inquiry power of the House in impeachment proceedings with its more confined scope in legislative investigations.

From the beginning of the Federal Government, presidents have stated that in an impeachment inquiry the Executive Branch could be required to produce papers that it might with-hold in a legislative investigation.”