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<blockquote data-quote="Old Man Jingles" data-source="post: 4349875" data-attributes="member: 18222">The Constitution vests the “sole Power of Impeachment” in the House of Representatives. U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 5. For precisely that reason, the House itself must authorize an impeachment inquiry, as it has done in virtually every prior impeachment investigation in our Nation’s history, including every one involving a President.A congressional committee’s “right to exact testimony and to call for the production of documents” is limited by the “controlling charter” the committee has received from the House. United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 44 (1953).Yet the House, by its rules, has authorized its committees to issue subpoenas only for matters within their legislative jurisdiction. Accordingly, no committee may undertake the momentous move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation by the full House of such authority. We are not the first to reach this conclusion. This was the position of the House in the impeachments of Presidents Nixon and Clinton. In the case of President Nixon, following a preliminary inquiry, the House adopted a formal resolution as a “necessary step” to confer the “investigative powers” of the House “to their full extent” upon the Judiciary Committee. 120 Cong. Rec. 2350–51 (1974) (statement of Rep. Rodino); see H.R. Res. 803, 93d Cong. (1974).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Old Man Jingles, post: 4349875, member: 18222"] The Constitution vests the “sole Power of Impeachment” in the House of Representatives. U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 5. For precisely that reason, the House itself must authorize an impeachment inquiry, as it has done in virtually every prior impeachment investigation in our Nation’s history, including [B]every one involving a President[/B]. A congressional committee’s “right to exact testimony and to call for the production of documents” is limited by the “controlling charter” the committee has received from the House. United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 44 (1953). Yet the House, by its rules, has authorized its committees to issue subpoenas only for matters within their legislative jurisdiction. Accordingly, no committee may undertake the momentous move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation by the full House of such authority. We are not the first to reach this conclusion. This was the position of the House in the impeachments of Presidents Nixon and Clinton.[B] In the case of President Nixon, following a preliminary inquiry, the House adopted a formal resolution as a “necessary step” to confer the “investigative powers” of the House “to their full extent” upon the Judiciary Committee.[/B] 120 Cong. Rec. 2350–51 (1974) (statement of Rep. Rodino); see H.R. Res. 803, 93d Cong. (1974). [/QUOTE]

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