How Congress can access the legal powers of impeachment without a formal inquiry

Due to recent steps taken by the House, the House Judiciary Committee, and House members, the best assessment is that the House is already acting in exercise of its impeachment authority. First, in June, the House passed a Resolution authorizing the Judiciary Committee to petition the court for Mueller grand jury materials in accordance with the exception for matters “preliminarily to … a judicial proceeding.” The Rules Committee report accompanying the draft resolution explicitly grounded that authorization to the House Judiciary Committee’s ongoing consideration of whether to recommend Articles of Impeachment. Second, the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, at a hearing on July 12, announced in his opening statement that the Committee is actively considering articles of impeachment as part of its investigation of the Mueller report’s findings. He stated: “With regard to the Committee’s responsibility to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the President, articles of impeachment are under consideration as part of the Committee’s investigation, although no final determination has been made.”

In the 116th Congress, 25 members of the House, including 3 members of the Judiciary Committee, have sponsored or cosponsored Articles of Impeachment or bills authorizing and directing the Committee to investigate whether grounds for impeachment exist. The most recent of these to garner support was House Judiciary Committee member Shelia Jackson Lee’s bill, co-sponsored by fellow Committee members Jamie Raskin and Steve Cohen, as well as five other House colleagues, directing the Committee to investigate the President’s obstruction of justice and abuse of power, charges stemming directly from the Mueller investigation, along with 17 other possible grounds. Currently nearly 100 members of the House have expressed support for impeachment.