The Imperial Congress 19 years, 1 month ago by Martey Dodoo

With the advent of the baseball hearings, increasing numbers of Harvard students seem to be concerned with the actions of Congress. However, their responses seemed to fit into one of two groups:

• Leave our baseball players alone!, or,


• There are more important things in the country and world that need Congressional attention.

While I think the former is inane (Kobe Bryant should not have more rights than me), I do subscribe to the latter. However, I did not think of the case of Terri Schiavo as one of those "more important things." If anything, this looks like yet another Republican offensive in the Kulturkampf that is early 21st century America.

"We will issue a subpoena which will require hospice administrators and attending physicians to preserve nutrition and hydration for Terri Schiavo to allow Congress to fully understand the procedures and practices that are currently keeping her alive," said a statement at 1 a.m. by the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert; the majority leader, Tom DeLay of Texas; and the chairman of the Government Reform Committee, Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia. "The subpoena will be joined by a Senate investigation as well," the statement said.

"This inquiry should give hope to Terri, her parents and friends, and the millions of people throughout the world who are praying for her safety," it added. "This fight is not over."

Those neutral Republican congressmen, Hastert, DeLay, ... and Tom Davis? My congressman? Apparently, the boring-sounding Government Reform Committee has some importance after all. Read this smackdown of Major League Baseball:

The issue of jurisdiction is easily resolved. The Government Reform Committee is the principal investigative committee in the House. Under the rules of the House, �[T]he Committee on Government Reform may at any time conduct investigations of any matter . . . .�[1] The House has given the Government Reform Committee this broad oversight jurisdiction so that the Committee can make �findings and recommendations . . . available to any other standing committee having jurisdiction over the matter involved.�[2]

I would argue that the above rules are too broad, if they allow Congress to intervene in the legal process. It is clear from the Republican rhetoric that their sole reason for subpoenaing Mrs. Schiavo is to keep her alive long enough for them to rig some sort of more permanent solution, like a federal law preventing her death. Since their minds are already made up (Terri must live!), there is no logical reason for bringing her in front of Congress.

I just hope the Committee on Government Reform does not decide to subpoena me. Based on their recent track record, they will probably ask me to come in sometime between May 19 and May 27.