Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 26, 1974 (1/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 26, 1974 (1/2)
[00.37.18--title screen "Impeachment Debate July 26, 1974"] [LEHRER seated in studio] LEHRER announces that the issue of debate is the specificity of the articles and DUE PROCESS [00.37.35--cut Rep. SANDMAN ] The CHAIRMAN. The Chair would like to address a question to counsel and staff which has had the whole matter before- it for a, period of time, citing the precedents and the history of impeachment, as to whether or not there is a requirement that there be specificity in the preparation of articles for impeachment? I address that to our counsel. Mr. DOAR. Mr. Chairman, in my judgment it is not necessary to be. totally specific, and I think this article of impeachment meets the test of specificity. As the Congressman from Maryland said, there will be a report submitted to the Congress with respect to this article, if the committee chooses to vote this article, and behind that report will be the summary of information, as well as all of the material that was presented to this committee. Prior to trial in the, Senate, the counsel for the President is entitled to make demands for specificity through perhaps a motion similar to a to bill of particulars, and so that all of those details may be spelled out. But, from the standpoint of this article, my judgment is firmly and With conviction that this meets the tests that have been established under the procedures. Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman? Mr. McCLORY. Would the Chairman yield? Would the Chairman yield so that we might got an opinion from Mr. Garrison? The, CHAIRMAN. I address the Same question to Mr. Garrison. MR. GARRISON. Mr. Chairman. I have not frankly spent a great deal or time researching this question. But, I would say that while it may very, well not be a requirement of the law, it clearly can be said to be the uniform practice of the past to have a considerable degree of specificity in the articles, and I would cite the members of the committee to a publication of this committee of October 1973 entitled Impeachment, Selected Materials, and beginning on page 125 and concluding -on page 202. Every article of impeachment which has been tried in the Senate is set forth, and I -would be less than frank, Mr. Chairman, if I ,did not suggest that a, simple, reading of those articles would suggest an enormous amount of factual detail. As a matter of fact, to an extent that is actually not included in indictments. And they are not only times, dates, and places named, sometimes there are the sums of money that allegedly have been misappropriated. I would refer you, for example, to page 173 to the, fifth article against Judge English, in which the judge was accused of inebriety, and I am sure, much to his embarrassment the article goes on at great length describing exactly when and where he was drunk. The CHAIRMAN. I would like to address the same question to Mr. Jenner. Mr. SANDMAN. Now, what is his capacity, Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is associate counsel of this committee associate to the staff as counsel, and for a while, and for a great while, served, by selection of the minority, as the minority counsel. Mr. Jenner Mr. JENNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen. An article of impeachment as of the present day is to be viewed in the light of the progress made in the field of criminal Procedure by this Congress and by the progress made under the Enabling Act by the Advisory Committees of the U.S. Supreme Court adopting the Federal rules of criminal procedure./ And second arising out of the electrical cases, the multidistrict panel plan by which all complicated cases are reviewed whether they are multidistrict or otherwise, and as a result of that progress has been made with respect to the Federal rules of criminal procedure and the new Federal rules of criminal procedure, which have now been approved by the House of Representatives, and I believe this committee it is no longer necessary to specify either in civil or criminal complaints a range of specificity that accompanied the needs of a past era. And all that is necessary under the cases is that the bill, the complaint, and I respectfully suggest the articles of impeachment give but what is called notice, or notice pleading, and that is in itself sufficient. Under the Federal rules of criminal procedure, under the, discovery provisions, the President may obtain all of the 38 books, all of the summaries, all of the materials that are before this committee. As is at is the rules now in effect, not even specifically stated in rule 16, that even, Counting the new criminal rules that have been approved that are not articles of impeachment yet in effect. So that in considering present day you must have in mind the progress that has been made in those respects in the last decade. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Mr. LATTA. Mr. Chairman? Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. I recognize Mr. Edwards. [00.44.00]