By Daniel Cotter*<\/p>\n
On October 31, 2019, the House voted along party lines, 232-196, to formalize the impeachment inquiry<\/a> procedure.\u00a0 Republicans had insisted that the process must be formalized<\/a> and that a vote was required before the House could conduct an impeachment inquiry.\u00a0 That insistence is misplaced and is a myth of the impeachment process that is not supported by the Constitution or by the past impeachment processes of the presidents.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Andrew Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n President Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached.\u00a0 His impeachment process moved quickly from his action on February 21, 1868<\/a>, when Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without congressional consent, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act<\/a>.\u00a0 Three days later, the House voted along party lines, 128-47<\/a>, to impeach Johnson.\u00a0 There was no impeachment inquiry, and on February 29, 1868, the House committee reported ten articles of impeachment.<\/p>\n Richard Nixon<\/strong><\/p>\n President Richard Nixon was only the second president for whom the House began to consider the question of impeachment.\u00a0 In his case, the process took place mainly out of the public eye even though we tend to remember the televised investigations.\u00a0 On October 30, 1973, ten days after the Saturday Night Massacre, the House Judiciary Committee voted, 21-17, to give its Chairman, Peter W. Rodin, Jr., the power \u201cto issue subpoenas without the consent of the full committee<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 For the next several months, until February 6, 1974, when the House formalized the impeachment inquiry by a vote of 410-4, the Judiciary Committee operated mostly in private.<\/p>\n On February 6, 1974, the House passed Resolution 803<\/a>, \u00a0<\/strong>which \u201cprovid[ed] appropriate power to the Committee on the Judiciary to conduct an investigation of whether sufficient grounds exist to impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States.\u201d But even after the vote, the House Judiciary Committee operated mainly in closed session.\u00a0 On May 9, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on the question of impeaching President Nixon<\/a>.\u00a0 The open hearings lasted for twenty minutes.\u00a0 As Woodward and Bernstein wrote in their book, \u201cThe Final Days<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cAt 1:08 P.M., Chairman Peter Rodino brought down the gavel to open the House Judiciary Committee\u2019s formal hearings on impeachment. The ceremony, following seven months of staff investigation, was carried live on national television for twenty minutes.\u00a0 Then, after a brief debate, the committee voted, thirty-one to six, to close its doors for business- consideration of the evidence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For the next two months, the Committee remained behind closed doors until it began debate<\/a> on articles of impeachment.\u00a0 The Committee eventually recommended three articles of impeachment against Nixon.\u00a0 Because Nixon resigned before the full House could vote, not much of the actual impeachment inquiry was conducted in the public\u2019s view.<\/p>\n William Clinton<\/strong><\/p>\n President William Clinton\u2019s timeline also does not support the myth of full public hearings and debate over whether to impeach a president.\u00a0 In Clinton\u2019s case, a special \u00a0counsel was appointed in January 1994<\/a>. \u00a0More than four years later, the Starr Report<\/a> was delivered to the House.\u00a0 Two days later, the House passed Resolution 525<\/a>, \u201c[p]roviding for a deliberative review by the Committee on the Judiciary of a communication from an independent counsel, and for the release thereof, and for other purposes\u201d and authorizing the House Judiciary Committee to determine \u201cwhether sufficient grounds exist to recommend to the House that an impeachment inquiry be commenced.\u201d<\/p>\n