GOP Lawmakers Oppose Special Panel for Impeachment Inquiry

House Judiciary Committee Republicans have asked Speaker Newt Gingrich to reject the idea of appointing a select committee to consider any impeachment inquiry against President Clinton.

In a letter to Gingrich, 16 Republican members of the committee said historical precedent dictated that the Judiciary Committee should handle any inquiry arising from independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigation.

The only two impeachment inquiries ever considered by the House, against Presidents Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon, were referred to the Judiciary Committee.

“To abruptly break with that precedent sends the wrong message to the American people. Such a move could easily be misinterpreted as partisan maneuvering,” said the letter, which was dated Wednesday and released Friday.

Gingrich has said he had not decided how the House would proceed if Starr sent a report to Congress at the end of his investigation. One of the options would be the appointment of a select committee of Republicans to review the report.

“No other committee in Congress is as well equipped as the Judiciary Committee to fairly evaluate the legal and constitutional questions that will arise during such an investigation,” the letter said.

The Judiciary Committee was given an additional $1.3 million last week to hire 18 new staff members in a move that Democrats charged was laying the groundwork for an impeachment inquiry.