Thirteen Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee have been appointed as “managers” who will serve as prosecutors in the trial.
Every one of the House prosecutors has worked as a lawyer, but their experience varies widely.
REP. BOB BARR, Ga., 50, elected 1994
DUTIES: Outline how president’s conduct relates to obstruction of justice and perjury laws.
Long before Monica Lewinsky became a household name, Barr introduced the first impeachment resolution against Clinton over alleged fund-raising irregularities and other matters. The conservative, who has co-authored an anti-Clinton book, introduced House Res. 304 in November 1997, a resolution directing the Judiciary Committee to investigate whether grounds existed to impeach Clinton. Some members of his own party criticized Barr for that, although the measure did garner 22 Republican cosponsors. Barr also is closely allied with the National Rifle Association and is vocal about gun ownership issues.
REP. ED BRYANT, Tenn., 50, elected 1994
DUTIES: Outline factual case against president.
Bryant has taken a tough stand against crime on the Judiciary Committee, although he is not a vocal member of the often boisterous panel. He generally votes with his party on committee matters.
REP. STEVE BUYER, Ind., 40, elected 1992
DUTIES: Address how president’s conduct meets constitutional test for removal from office.
Buyer, a reservist, was called to active service during Desert Storm as a legal adviser to a prisoner-of-war camp in the Persian Gulf. He now suffers from some of the same ailments as other soldiers returning from the Gulf, and has called for more investigation into the “Gulf War Syndrome.” He also helped pass a law in a previous Congress permitting the Veterans Administration to compensate Gulf War veterans with disabilities from undiagnosed illnesses.
REP. CHARLES CANADY, Fla., 44, elected 1992, chairman House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.
DUTIES: Address how president’s conduct meets constitutional test for removal from office.
Sometimes coolly combative and staunchly conservative, Canady has railed against abortion rights except under certain circumstances and worked to pass a ban on so-called “partial-birth abortions” and prohibit people from taking pregnant minors across state lines to have an abortion without parental consent.
REP. CHRISTOPHER CANNON, Utah, 48, elected 1996
DUTIES: Outline how Clinton’s conduct relates to obstruction of justice and perjury laws
Cannon, a former Reagan administration official, was elected in 1996. He is a champion of the Internal Revenue Service reform effort.
REP. STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, 45, elected 1994
DUTIES: Outline how Clinton’s conduct relates to obstruction of justice and perjury laws.
Chabot has supported requiring jail inmates and people on probation to do public works projects. He occasionally departs from the party line on certain votes, such as the 1996 GOP budget plan, which he deemed too “liberal.”
REP. GEORGE GEKAS, Pa., 68, elected 1982, chairman House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
DUTIES: Outline how Clinton’s conduct relates to obstruction of justice and perjury laws.
Chairman of the subcommittee that oversees administrative law issues, Gekas monitors authorizations for the Office of Independent Counsel. During the late 1980s, Gekas participated in impeachment proceedings against former federal judge Alcee Hastings, a Democrat who now represents Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. (The House voted overwhelmingly to impeach Hastings and the Senate voted to remove him from office, but he never was convicted in court of the allegations that led to his ouster.)
REP. LINDSEY GRAHAM, S.C., 43, elected 1994
DUTIES: Address how president’s conduct meets constitutional test for removal from office.
In his first two terms in office, Graham registered a nearly perfect voting record by American Conservative Union standards. He was one of the leaders of the failed coup attempt against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the summer of 1997. Graham assumed the Judiciary Committee seat of the late Rep. Steven Schiff (R-N.M.) in early 1998.
REP. ASA HUTCHINSON, Ark., 48, elected 1996
DUTIES: Outline factual case against president on obstruction of justice charge.
Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor, prosecuted Clinton’s brother, Roger, on drug charges. He ran for Congress after his brother – Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R) – left the House to run for the Senate in 1996.
REP. HENRY HYDE, Ill., 74, elected 1974, chairman House Judiciary Committee
DUTIES: Deliver opening and closing statement.
An articulate Catholic conservative and longtime abortion foe, Hyde presided over the Judiciary Committee proceedings that led to President Clinton’s impeachment. The September 1998 disclosure of Hyde’s extramarital affair 30 years ago provoked an extraordinary display of acrimony; Republicans blamed the story on the White House, presidential aides complained they were being unfairly smeared. Hyde has amassed a conservative voting record; the Hyde amendment bars funding abortion services with federal money. He won reelection in November 1998 with 67 percent of the vote.
REP. BILL MCCOLLUM, Fla., 54, elected 1980, chairman House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime
DUTIES: Summarize factual case against president.
McCollum, chairman of the Crime Subcommittee, has steered the GOP’s tough-on-criminals initiatives. He sponsored several anti-drug bills and a successful measure to ensure that crime victims and their families are not locked out of federal criminal trials.
REP. JAMES ROGAN, Calif., 41, elected 1996
DUTIES: Outline case against president on grand jury perjury and deliver closing remarks.
Rogan served as a Los Angeles county deputy district attorney and as a judge in the Glendale Judicial District. He was handpicked for the Judiciary Committee by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the summer of 1998 to study possible impeachment proceedings.
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Wisc., 55, elected 1978
DUTIES: Deliver one-hour introduction.
Sensenbrenner has focused on issues like the international space station and global warming on the House Science Committee, which he chairs. The 1998 Almanac of American Politics describes the Wisconsin native as a “stickler for rules and ethics” who “has insisted on impeachment action against federal judges convicted of crimes.” Sensenbrenner won 91 percent of the vote in November.
