This means that Congress holds hearings on a variety of issues, from steroid abuse in professional sports to the use of weather satellites. Hearings have also been used to further the rights of minority groups. Congressional investigations not only help legislators make better policy decisions, but they are central to the system of checks and balances. Investigatory hearings can uncover presidential abuses of power and corruption, such as the Teapot Dome scandal in the s or Watergate in the s.
Aberbach, Joel D. Washington, D. Barrett, David M. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, Bruns, Roger A. Smock, ed. New York: Facts on File, Minta, Michael D. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Ogden, August Raymond. Ogul, Morris S. Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy. In the United States, advice and consent is a power of the United States Senate to be consulted on and approve treaties signed and appointments made by the President of the United States to public positions, including Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, and ambassadors.
The founding fathers of the United States included the language as part of a delicate compromise concerning the balance of power in the federal government. Many delegates preferred to develop a strong executive control vested in the president, while others, worried about authoritarian control, preferred to strengthen the Congress.
Requiring the president to gain the advice and consent of the Senate achieved both goals without hindering the business of government. Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, appointments to the Office of Vice President are confirmed by a majority vote in both Houses of Congress, instead of just the Senate. Several framers of the U. Constitution believed that the required role of the Senate is to advise the president after the nomination. Roger Sherman believed that advice before nomination could still be helpful.
Likewise, President George Washington took the position that pre-nomination advice was allowable but not mandatory. Typically, a congressional hearing is held to question the appointee. For a treaty, a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required anyway; thus, a filibuster could only delay passage. Impeachment is an expressed power that allows for formal charges against a civil officer of government for crimes committed in office.
Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature that allows for formal charges against a civil government officer for crimes committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges, is separate from the act of impeachment itself.
Impeachment is analogous to indictmentin regular court proceedings. Trial by the other house is analogous to the trial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial. At the federal level, Article II of the United States Constitution Section 4 , states that the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and in conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate. Impeachment proceedings may be commenced by a member of the House of Representatives on their own initiative, either by presenting a listing of the charges under oath or by asking for referral to the appropriate committee.
Non-members may trigger the impeachment process. For example, when the Judicial Conference of the United States suggests a federal judge be impeached, a charge of what actions constitute grounds for impeachment may come from a special prosecutor, the President, a state or territorial legislature, grand jury, or by petition. The House debates the resolution and at the conclusion may consider the resolution as a whole or vote on each article of impeachment individually.
A simple majority of those present and voting is required for each article or the resolution as a whole to pass. If the House votes to impeach, managers typically referred to as House managers, with a lead House manager are selected to present the case to the Senate.
Recently, managers have been selected by resolution, while historically the House would occasionally elect the managers or pass a resolution allowing the appointment of managers at the discretion of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Also, the House will adopt a resolution in order to notify the Senate of its action. After receiving the notice, the Senate will adopt an order notifying the House that it is ready to receive the managers. Then the House managers appear before the bar of the Senate and exhibit the articles of impeachment.
After the reading of the charges, the managers return and make a verbal report to the House. The proceedings unfold in the form of a trial, with each side having the right to call witnesses and perform cross-examinations. The House members, who are given the collective title of managers during the course of the trial, present the prosecution case. The impeached official has the right to mount a defense with his own attorneys as well.
Senators must also take an oath or affirmation that they will perform their duties honestly and with due diligence as opposed to the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, who vote upon their honor. After hearing the charges, the Senate usually deliberates in private. Simply put, almost anything. Although the Constitution does not expressly authorize Congress to conduct investigations, Congress — and the courts — have long recognized that Congress has an inherent, constitutional prerogative to conduct investigations.
In fact, the first congressional investigation occurred as early as , when the House of Representatives convened a committee to investigate the defeat of General Arthur St. Clair in the Battle of the Wabash in what was then known as the Northwest Territory and now known as Ohio.
As a result, a congressional committee has broad discretion regarding both the scope of its investigation and the relevance of the information it requests.
Although congressional authority to investigate is broad, it is not unlimited.
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