Impeachment inquiry in the United States

This means that a speaker may themself declare the launch of what would be considered an impeachment inquiry without any need for an authorizing vote.

This became a discussion point in when the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump was announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi without there first having been a vote on the matter.

This remains an opinion to which presidential administrations and Executive Branch agencies (such as the Department of Justice, FBI, and IRS) are bound to adhere.

[1] However, through an authorizing resolution, it is still possible for the House to provide these committees with additional tools to aid investigations that are part impeachment inquiry, such as the power to compel responses to interrogatories.

[9] An impeachment inquiry, as opposed to an investigation not given that designation, may possibly be seen by courts as having a greater legally-required "legislative purpose" to access certain privileged materials.

[1] There is legal argument that impeachment inquiries may have a greater need for specific factual information than traditional congressional investigations.

[1] Furthermore, there is legal argument that the importance that impeachment plays as a constitutional role means to address misconduct of federal officials and upholding the balance of the separation of powers means that impeachment investigations need to be provided the strongest deference when balanced against confidentiality interests of the executive branch of the United States government.

[1] Federal courts, however, have ruled very little on how executive privilege relates to conventional congressional investigations or impeachment inquiries.

[1] The Supreme Court of the United States has never addressed the application of executive privilege to materials being sought for an impeachment investigation.

Unsuccessful House votes were also held against launching impeachment inquiries into an additional two presidents, Thomas Jefferson[31] and John Tyler.

[32] On January 25, 1809, Representative Josiah Quincy III (a member of the Federalist Party) introduced resolutions which would launch an impeachment inquiry into lame duck President Thomas Jefferson, alleged that his keeping of Benjamin Lincoln in the federal office of the Port of Boston's customs collector despite Lincoln's own protests that he was too old and too weak to continue with his job had been a "high misdemeanor" on Jefferson's part.

[32][35][36] In 1860, the House created the United States House Select Committee to Investigate Alleged Corruptions in Government (also known as the "Covode Committee" after its chairman, Representative John Covode), to run an impeachment inquiry investigating President James Buchanan on suspicion of bribery and other allegations.

[37] On January 7, 1867, the House voted to approve a resolution by James Mitchell Ashley which launched the first impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson.

The inquiry initially ended in a June 3, 1867, vote by the committee to recommend against forwarding articles of impeachment to the full House.

[5][42] This vote launched the second impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson, run through the United States House Select Committee on Reconstruction.

Before the formal impeachment inquiry, Nixon faced related investigation into Watergate scandal and other actions in both houses of the United States Congress.

The United States Senate had voted 77–0 on February 7, 1973, to form a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, and the resulting hearings were broadcast on television, running from May 17 through August 7, 1973.

[48] They began the investigation in earnest in December 1973, after the House completed the confirmation hearings on Gerald Ford's nomination to become vice president.

In 1826, Vice President John C. Calhoun himself requested a House impeachment inquiry be launched into him regarding allegations that he had profited from a contract during his tenure as United States secretary of war.

[65][66] His request was granted, and a House select committee conducted an impeachment inquiry which, in only a matter of weeks, found Calhoun innocent of wrongdoing.

[66] In 1873, Vice President Schuyler Colfax's name surfaced during witness testimony in a House investigation of the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal.

[67] Under this cloud of suspicion, on February 20, 1873 (less than a month before Colfax's term expired), Representative Fernando Wood introduced a resolution to investigate the vice president's conduct.

[69][70] On September 26, 1973, a request by Vice President Spiro Agnew that an impeachment inquiry into him be launched was denied by Speaker of the House Carl Albert.

[65][66] Agnew had requested such an inquiry to investigate charges that he had received bribes from construction companies during his tenure as the governor of Maryland.

[65] Weeks later, on October 10, 1973, as part of a plea bargain relating to a charge of tax evasion, Vice President Agnew resigned.

The inquiry was run by a bipartisan committee which the Illinois House of Representatives voted 113–0 to create and task with recommending whether Blagojevich should be impeached due to corruption charges.

On March 28, 2022, the House Select Committee on Investigation concluded the inquiry after several months with a recommendation against impeaching Ravnsborg.