tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/smith-college-1661/articlesSmith College2024-02-14T01:19:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226922024-02-14T01:19:21Z2024-02-14T01:19:21ZMayorkas impeached: Is Congress on a witch hunt? 5 ways to judge whether oversight is legitimate or politicized<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575507/original/file-20240214-28-hxtey7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C8%2C5826%2C3898&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), right, leaves the U.S. Capitol after the House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on February 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/house-majority-leader-steve-scalise-leaves-the-u-s-capitol-news-photo/2008968265?adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a failed vote to impeach him the previous week, Republicans in the House of Representatives mustered the barest majority in a second try, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/13/us/mayorkas-impeachment">214 to 213</a>, and impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 13, 2024. Mayorkas is the first cabinet secretary to be impeached by the House <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/mayorkas-impeachment-cabinet-what-matters">in almost 150 years</a>. </p>
<p>The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/13/us/mayorkas-impeachment">not expected to charge Mayorkas</a>, allowing him to keep his job.</p>
<p>The vote follows a series of recent moves by the House GOP to exercise Congress’ impeachment power.</p>
<p>In December 2023, the House formally authorized an impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/us/politics/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-inquiry.html">potential corruption charges</a> related to his son, Hunter Biden. That investigation is continuing.</p>
<p>In January 2024, Republicans on the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/mayorkas-impeachment-house.html">approved two articles of impeachment</a> against Mayorkas for <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/582/text">“presid(ing) over a reckless abandonment of border security</a> and immigration enforcement” and “releasing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States,” among other charges. </p>
<p><a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/art2.asp">The Constitution</a> grants Congress the power to impeach and remove “all civil officers of the United States,” including the president, for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” This is part of Congress’ constitutional responsibility to check the other two branches of the federal government through investigative work, ensuring their accountability. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/impeachment-meaning-and-impact/">the impeachment process</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-072012-113747">like Congress’ oversight work more broadly</a>, is influenced by partisan considerations. Committees conduct <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20680245">more investigations of the incumbent administration</a> when Congress and the presidency are controlled by opposing parties. One possible reason: congressional investigations <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171852/investigating-the-president">drive down the president’s approval rating</a>. </p>
<p>How do you know when members of Congress are using investigations to damage political opponents, and when those investigations are legitimate means of enforcing good governance and the rule of law? </p>
<p>Is it possible to separate the “good” investigations from the “bad”?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A balding man in a well-fitted suit stands and raises his right hand to swear an oath." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is sworn in during a hearing on July 26, 2023, before the House Committee on the Judiciary concerning oversight of Mayorkas’ agency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-homeland-security-alejandro-mayorkas-is-sworn-news-photo/1572057397?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Politicized oversight</h2>
<p>A skirmish between the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is just one illustration of why these questions are so important. </p>
<p>In April 2023, as part of his committee’s probe into allegedly politically motivated prosecutions of former President Donald Trump, Jordan sent a <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/chairman-jordan-subpoenas-former-new-york-county-district-attorney-official">subpoena for sworn testimony</a> to lawyer <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/People-vs-Donald-Trump/Mark-Pomerantz/9781668022443">Mark Pomerantz</a>. Pomerantz had previously worked for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whose team had recently issued 34 felony indictments against Trump for, among other charges, falsification of business records via payments <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/">to adult film star Stormy Daniels</a>. </p>
<p>In return, Bragg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/nyregion/bragg-lawsuit-jim-jordan-trump-indictment.html">sued Jordan in federal court</a> for what Bragg called <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/bragg-v-jordan-complaint-23-cv-3032/b7f1a0e43619867d/full.pdf">an “unprecedented and unconstitutional attack</a>” by the federal government on an ongoing state-level investigation. </p>
<p>A few days later, on April 19, a federal district judge <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/19/trump-prosecutor-pomerantz-subpoena-ruling-00092953">decided against blocking Jordan’s subpoena</a>, arguing that there were “<a href="https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/Bragg%20v%20Jordan%20-%20Opinion.pdf">several valid legislative purposes</a>” for the committee to require Pomerantz to testify. </p>
<p>Bragg, who initially fought the decision, dropped his appeal after he and Rep. Jordan <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/21/bragg-trump-investigator-testify-congress-00093364">reached a compromise</a>, in which Pomerantz agreed to testify before the committee. However, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/12/us/politics/trump-case-pomerantz-deposition.html">Pomerantz ultimately refused to answer</a> many of the committee’s questions.</p>
<p>Historically, courts have tended to respond to disputes between different branches of government with this kind of hands-off approach, preferring to let the parties <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R45653.html">work things out among themselves</a>. But apart from legal questions, the Jordan-Bragg dispute raises fundamental questions about the politicization of oversight.</p>
<h2>‘Legislative purpose’ required</h2>
<p>While Congress’ oversight powers are not unlimited, Congress does have the constitutional authority to investigate <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-investigates-presidents-the-military-baseball-and-whatever-it-wants-a-brief-modern-history-of-oversight-194995">almost anything it wants</a> in the service of a “<a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/07/cases-and-controversies-congress-the-subpoena-power-and-a-legislative-purpose/">legislative purpose</a>” – though Congress’ demands for information about an ongoing criminal case <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-can-house-republicans-actually-do-to-the-manhattan-da/">were unprecedented</a>. </p>
<p>Jordan and McCarthy have argued that the “<a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1641574001934757889">weaponiz[ation] of our sacred system of justice</a>” against a political opponent demands the American people’s immediate attention. Democrats called the attacks on Bragg a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/12/23680531/jim-jordan-alvin-bragg-trump-indictment">political stunt</a>.”</p>
<p>Members on either side of the aisle aren’t in the business of admitting distasteful intentions as they sing hosannas to truth and accountability. Thus, political science scholars have proposed <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/waynlr64&div=5&id=&page=">several possible guidelines</a> by which observers might judge a congressional investigation’s quality. </p>
<h2>1. Look to the professionals</h2>
<p>The accountability community includes legislative agencies like the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does">Government Accountability Office</a>, a nonpartisan watchdog that informs Congress about the functioning of executive programs, and the independent <a href="https://www.oversight.gov/">offices of inspectors general</a> that exist within the largest executive branch agencies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">As a scholar of American oversight</a>, I argue in forthcoming work that one possible way to identify high-quality oversight is by measuring how well Congress responds to programs and agencies that watchdogs have already identified as particularly at risk for waste, fraud and abuse. </p>
<p>In other words, does Congress look to the corners of the government at which highly informed nonpartisan experts have shined their lights? If so, we can infer that Congress is responding to problems for which there is an established need for oversight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in suits sitting at a table, with one talking and gesturing with his hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">On June 6, 2002, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, right, and Glenn A. Fine, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice, testify at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/director-robert-s-mueller-iii-right-and-glenn-a-fine-news-photo/74801279?adppopup=true">Scott J. Ferrell/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>2. Look to bipartisan cooperation</h2>
<p>If the goal is to assess how oversight is weaponized politically, the most obvious metric might appear to be: Is an investigation bipartisan? Scholars and citizens could look at whether committee reports are issued jointly by the majority and minority parties, and whether both parties sign off on subpoenas and other information requests. </p>
<p>There are problems with using bipartisanship as a sole metric for quality, however. Members of Congress might purposely refuse to work with their opposition, seeking to discredit an investigation by making it appear partisan when in principle it is not.</p>
<p>Additionally, it matters how partisanship is measured. If one Republican joins 20 Democrats on an investigative request, or vice versa, does that equate to bipartisanship? Do the parties actually work collaboratively, or separately? The lack of a specific definition of “bipartisanship” makes it a difficult standard to apply. </p>
<h2>3. Look to information sources</h2>
<p>An important, early part of the oversight process is gathering information about a particular agency or program. Considering the sources of that information is relevant to determining its credibility. Recent scholarship has shown that, under divided government, committees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422000405">invite a smaller proportion of bureaucrats</a> to testify at hearings. Testimony from civil servants is particularly valuable for administrative oversight, since they are arguably the best positioned to inform Congress about the functioning of the agency programs that they administer.</p>
<p>Thus, a relative dearth of information-sharing between Congress and agency bureaucrats may affect the quality of the information the legislature receives about the government programs they oversee. </p>
<h2>4. Look to effectiveness</h2>
<p>Oversight quality may also be assessed by measuring its effects. Do oversight and investigations actually lead to measurable changes in agency behavior? Research suggests that when Congress chooses to conduct oversight hearings on specific problems in government, those <a href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol95/iss5/12/">problems are significantly less likely</a> to recur.</p>
<p>However, these measures tell more about whether an investigation achieved its intended – potentially partisan – goal, and less about whether the investigation itself was rigorous, objective and rooted in facts.</p>
<h2>5. Look to the people</h2>
<p>Finally, oversight quality may simply be in the eye of the beholder. In other words, “good” oversight is whatever Congress – and, by extension, the electorate – says it is. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2585479">little evidence</a> that voters consciously split their tickets – that is, vote for candidates from different parties on the same ballot. However, in midterm elections, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-presidents-party-almost-always-has-a-bad-midterm/">the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress</a>, indicating voters’ desire for balance against the incumbent administration. </p>
<p>In the 2022 midterms, the Republican takeover of the House can be largely explained by <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/republican-gains-in-2022-midterms-driven-mostly-by-turnout-advantage/">higher turnout among Republican voters</a>. And <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/17/politics/popular-vote-midterms-what-matters/index.html">Republican candidates received more votes nationally</a> than Democrats. </p>
<p>These results show that citizens who were enthusiastic enough to vote wanted the GOP in charge. Before the midterms, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/04/politics/gop-investigations-republican-plans-hunter-biden/index.html">Republicans made no secret of their intentions</a> to investigate President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security, and it is fair to say that voters anticipated this agenda. In the impeachment inquiries directed at Biden and Mayorkas, voters are getting what they were promised. In a democracy, that may be the form of legitimacy that matters most.</p>
<p><em>This article includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-congress-on-a-witch-hunt-5-ways-to-judge-whether-oversight-hearings-are-legitimate-or-politicized-203540">material</a> originally published July 31, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Leavitt has received funding from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.</span></em></p>With its impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the House exercised its oversight power. How can you tell if it was a legitimate use of that power?Claire Leavitt, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2158102023-10-24T00:45:04Z2023-10-24T00:45:04ZIndigenous voices can be heard without being constitutionally enshrined, just look at the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555178/original/file-20231023-17-6rrpai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C983%2C758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-native-americans-traditional-garb-91654694">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was always going to be a big ask for Australians to vote in favour of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.</p>
<p>There’s been much said about the challenges posed by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/voice-to-parliament-referendum-defeated-results-at-a-glance-215366">double majority requirement</a>.</p>
<p>In the wash-up, many are asking what the path to reconciliation is now. </p>
<p>Some answers may lay in other settler societies. </p>
<p>North American Indians provide an example of how representation can occur, without having to amend the constitution. </p>
<h2>Change in the face of harsh laws</h2>
<p>After 350 years of losing wars, land, and sovereignty, American Indians altered their approach to engaging with the federal government in the mid-20th century.</p>
<p>The National Congress of the American Indians (NCAI), a consulting organisation to the government, was central to this change. </p>
<p>Although American Indians could not alter their history, they did reverse its trajectory. </p>
<p>By the 1940s, they were about to face an era of government policies so harsh it is referred to as the <a href="https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/termination">Termination Period</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/native-americans-have-experienced-a-dramatic-decline-in-life-expectancy-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-but-the-drop-has-been-in-the-making-for-generations-186729">Native Americans have experienced a dramatic decline in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic – but the drop has been in the making for generations</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/bia/termination">Federal laws</a> took away tribal rights once promised by treaties. Government programs tried to end American Indian communities through <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/indian-relocation.html">assimilation.</a></p>
<p>In 1944, American Indians created the National Congress of the American Indians. Many of those involved had worked as government officials and had a good understanding of the system.</p>
<p>Despite its name, it can’t make laws, like the US Congress.</p>
<p>Rather, it is an organisation that lobbies and educates the government, like other industry and special interest groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three American Indian children in traditional dress dance in a circle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555186/original/file-20231023-21-zogbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Because of the work of the National Congress of American Indians, Indigenous Americans are served better by hundreds of programs and millions of dollars in funding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thaths/5736833559/in/gallery-ncai-72157627938609430/">thaths/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>Changing the trajectory</h2>
<p>Remarkably, by the late 1960s, through the National Congress of American Indians’ <a href="https://nit.com.au/11-08-2023/7180/exclusive-economic-resilience-and-tribal-sovereignty-in-the-united-states#:%7E:text=Over%20its%20history%2C%20the%20NCAI,Determination%20and%20Education%20Assistance%20Act.">efforts</a>, American Indians had not only survived, but the Termination Period had given way to tribal self-determination.</p>
<p>The National Congress of American Indians advocated for legislation such as: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>President Lyndon B. Johnson’s <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson#:%7E:text=The%20Great%20Society%20program%20became,removal%20of%20obstacles%20to%20the">“Great Society” programs</a> that sought to ease poverty</p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/assets/bia/ots/ots/pdf/Public_Law93-638.pdf">Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act</a> which allowed tribes to manage their own services and contracts with the federal government</p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title25/chapter21&edition=prelim">Indian Child Welfare Act</a> which aimed to protect children while also keeping them within their tribal communities.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>School enrolments expanded, services increased, and education and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4035886/">health programs</a> brought the highest quality of life many communities had known. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24398399">improved tribal schools</a>, children can now learn both English and their <a href="http://www.ncnalsp.org">Indigenous language</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-there-is-to-be-any-healing-after-the-voice-referendum-it-will-be-a-long-journey-214370">If there is to be any healing after the Voice referendum, it will be a long journey</a>
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<p>Healthy foods, <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2021/0222/Seeds-and-beyond-Native-Americans-embrace-food-sovereignty">grown by tribes</a>, are making a comeback on reservations that were once rural food deserts.</p>
<p>Of course, there’s a lot more progress still to be made. American Indian men have the lowest average <a href="https://theconversation.com/native-americans-have-experienced-a-dramatic-decline-in-life-expectancy-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-but-the-drop-has-been-in-the-making-for-generations-186729">life expectancy</a> of any ethnic group in the US. Issues with addiction, unemployment and trauma still loom large.</p>
<p>And American Indians remain displaced, having lost <a href="https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/near-total-loss-historical-lands-leaves-indigenous-nations-us-more-vulnerable-climate">99% of their ancestral lands</a> over time.</p>
<p>But compared to the situation 80 years ago, we’ve come a long way. </p>
<h2>Progress in real time</h2>
<p>My tribe describes the transformation of this period in a short story.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, our tribe had the following items in our posession: a trailer, a desk, <em>and</em> the phonebook sitting on top of it. </p>
<p>Our numerous ventures now <a href="https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2022/09/09/citizen-potawatomi-nations-economic-impact-exceeds-700-million-in-2021/#:%7E:text=Citizen%20Potawatomi%20Nation%27s%20economic%20impact%20exceeds%20%24700%20million%20in%202021,-September%209%2C%202022&text=As%20an%20economic%20force%20in,and%20its%20communities%20in%202021.">contribute</a> one billion Australian dollars to the regional economy. </p>
<p>We run clinics, house elders, provide daycare, and our youth thrive in schools and careers. </p>
<p>We were able to build on the momentum created by the National Congress of American Indians and take control of our future. </p>
<p>The Congress focuses on policy. It mainly employs experts who research proposals, suggest changes to legislation, meet with government representatives, and provide reports to the public.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1711381050637615205"}"></div></p>
<p>Because of their work, American Indians are served better by hundreds of programs and millions of dollars in funding.</p>
<p>The National Congress of American Indians does this without being enshrined in the constitution.</p>
<p>In their nearly 80 years, the organisation has built social capital and credibility. </p>
<p>Because it’s so trusted, it secures funding from tribes, corporations, and government agencies. With yearly <a href="https://www.ncai.org/resources/ncai-publications/indian-country-budget-request/fy2022">financial surpluses</a>, it has set aside millions of dollars in assets to safeguard its future. </p>
<h2>A voice in a different form</h2>
<p>There has been a long history of trying to establish Indigenous representation at the federal level in Australia. </p>
<p>Most recently in 2009, Aboriginal communities established the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. </p>
<p>It was <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6443649/closure-of-aboriginal-organisation-means-loss-of-first-peoples-voice-former-co-chairman/">disbanded in 2019</a> after years of under-funding. </p>
<p>It’s hardly surprising a key lesson its leaders learnt was the need for stable funding. Being written into the constitution was seen as the way to get this.</p>
<p>The rationale is understandable, but amending a country’s constitution is a strong measure.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lies-fuel-racism-how-the-global-media-covered-australias-voice-to-parliament-referendum-215665">'Lies fuel racism': how the global media covered Australia's Voice to Parliament referendum</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Perhaps constitutional change was too big a logistical and psychological issue for the public to accept. A body like the National Congress of American Indians could be the alternative.</p>
<p>It would require long-term, bipartisan funding. The political appetite for such a plan is unclear. </p>
<p>But financial certainty could enable Aboriginal people to provide essential consultation and help train future leaders. </p>
<p>It may also prove more palatable for voters across the political spectrum. </p>
<p>In North America, such a lobbying and policy organisation has helped ensure much better outcomes for its Indigenous people.</p>
<p>With the right support, the same could be achieved in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yancey Orr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The failed Voice to Parliament referendum dashed the hopes of many mapping out a path to reconciliation. If we look to the example set by North American Indians, there might be another way forward.Yancey Orr, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2035402023-07-31T12:24:36Z2023-07-31T12:24:36ZIs Congress on a witch hunt? 5 ways to judge whether oversight hearings are legitimate or politicized<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539558/original/file-20230726-17-7heuat.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C5973%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Congressional staffers stand beneath a monitor showing House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., in a hearing, July 19, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressOversightBiden/cf276446a23d486b93b2ba9ca7f67834/photo?Query=congressional%20committee&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2734&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/16/house-control-midterm-elections-results-2022-00066546">Republicans regained the majority</a> in the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, they have initiated a flurry of investigations. Among their targets: <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/17/republicans-overlap-covid-investigations">the origin of the COVID-19 virus</a>, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/us/section-702-spying.html">FBI’s law enforcement and surveillance activities</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-hunter-biden-associate-sit-closed-door-testimony/story?id=101618183">Hunter Biden’s business relationships</a>. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California even spoke recently of a possible <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-impeachment-mccarthy-hannity-78e4c7efeb030b29e1576f868257179b">presidential impeachment inquiry</a>. </p>
<p>Everyone loves congressional oversight – at least in theory. Both <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/04/trump-investigation-house-democrats-congress-219624/">Democrats</a> and <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/72494-how-oversight-should-work-rep-darrell-issa/">Republicans</a> have consistently maintained that holding institutions accountable via rigorous oversight and investigations is among the most important functions of the legislature, the so-called “people’s branch” of government. </p>
<p>In practice, however, Congress’ investigative work is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-072012-113747">influenced by partisan considerations</a>. Scholars have demonstrated that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20680245">committees conduct more oversight under divided government</a>, when Congress and the presidency are controlled by opposing parties. One reason for this may be that congressional investigations of the incumbent administration <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171852/investigating-the-president">drive down the president’s approval rating</a>. </p>
<p>But if more oversight does not necessarily equate to better oversight, then what does? How do we know when committees are using oversight as a blunt cudgel to damage their political opponents, and when congressional investigations are a valuable and legitimate use of taxpayer dollars? </p>
<p>In other words, how can we separate the “good” oversight from the “bad”?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A balding man in a well-fitted suit stands and raises his right hand to swear an oath." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539565/original/file-20230726-17-5qmkg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is sworn in during a hearing on July 26, 2023, before the House Committee on the Judiciary concerning oversight of Mayorkas’ agency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-homeland-security-alejandro-mayorkas-is-sworn-news-photo/1572057397?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Politicized oversight?</h2>
<p>A recent skirmish between the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is just one illustration of why these questions are so important. </p>
<p>In April 2023, as part of his committee’s probe into allegedly politically motivated prosecutions of former President Donald Trump, Jordan sent a <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/chairman-jordan-subpoenas-former-new-york-county-district-attorney-official">subpoena for sworn testimony</a> to lawyer <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/People-vs-Donald-Trump/Mark-Pomerantz/9781668022443">Mark Pomerantz</a>. Pomerantz had previously worked for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whose team had recently issued 34 felony indictments against Trump for, among other charges, falsification of business records via payments <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/">to adult film star Stormy Daniels</a>. </p>
<p>In return, Bragg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/nyregion/bragg-lawsuit-jim-jordan-trump-indictment.html">sued Jordan in federal court</a> for what Bragg called <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/bragg-v-jordan-complaint-23-cv-3032/b7f1a0e43619867d/full.pdf">an “unprecedented and unconstitutional attack</a>” by the federal government on an ongoing state-level investigation. </p>
<p>A few days later, on April 19, a federal district judge <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/19/trump-prosecutor-pomerantz-subpoena-ruling-00092953">decided against blocking Jordan’s subpoena</a>, arguing that there were “<a href="https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/Bragg%20v%20Jordan%20-%20Opinion.pdf">several valid legislative purposes</a>” for the committee to require Pomerantz to testify. </p>
<p>Bragg, who initially fought the decision, dropped his appeal after he and Rep. Jordan <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/21/bragg-trump-investigator-testify-congress-00093364">reached a compromise</a>, in which Pomerantz agreed to testify before the committee. However, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/12/us/politics/trump-case-pomerantz-deposition.html">Pomerantz ultimately refused to answer</a> many of the committee’s questions.</p>
<p>Historically, courts have tended to respond to disputes between different branches of government with this kind of hands-off approach, preferring to let the parties <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R45653.html">work things out among themselves</a>. But apart from legal questions, the Jordan-Bragg dispute raises fundamental questions about the politicization of oversight.</p>
<h2>‘Legislative purpose’ required</h2>
<p>While Congress’ oversight powers are not unlimited, Congress does have the constitutional authority to investigate <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-investigates-presidents-the-military-baseball-and-whatever-it-wants-a-brief-modern-history-of-oversight-194995">almost anything it wants</a> in the service of a “<a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/07/cases-and-controversies-congress-the-subpoena-power-and-a-legislative-purpose/">legislative purpose</a>” – though Congress’ demands for information about an ongoing criminal case <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-can-house-republicans-actually-do-to-the-manhattan-da/">are unprecedented</a>. </p>
<p>Jordan and McCarthy have argued that the “<a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1641574001934757889">weaponiz[ation] of our sacred system of justice</a>” against a political opponent demands the American people’s immediate attention. Democrats have called the attacks on Bragg a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/12/23680531/jim-jordan-alvin-bragg-trump-indictment">political stunt</a>.”</p>
<p>But all of this follows a predictable script. Members on either side of the aisle aren’t in the business of admitting to any distasteful intentions as they sing hosannas to truth and accountability. Thus, political science scholars have proposed <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/waynlr64&div=5&id=&page=">several possible guidelines</a> by which observers might judge the quality of a congressional investigation. </p>
<h2>1. Look to the accountability community</h2>
<p>The accountability community includes legislative agencies like the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does">Government Accountability Office</a>, a nonpartisan watchdog that informs Congress about the functioning of executive programs, and the independent <a href="https://www.oversight.gov/">offices of inspectors general</a> that exist within the largest executive branch agencies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">As a scholar of American oversight</a>, I argue in my ongoing work that one possible way to identify high-quality oversight is by measuring how well Congress responds to programs and agencies that watchdogs have already identified as particularly at risk for waste, fraud and abuse. </p>
<p>In other words, does Congress look to the corners of the government at which highly informed and well-positioned nonpartisan experts have shined their lights? If so, we can infer that Congress is responding to problems for which there is an established, preexisting need for oversight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in suits sitting at a table, with one talking and gesturing with his hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539573/original/file-20230726-25-png2p0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On June 6, 2002, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, right, and Glenn A. Fine, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice, testify at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/director-robert-s-mueller-iii-right-and-glenn-a-fine-news-photo/74801279?adppopup=true">Scott J. Ferrell/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>2. Look to bipartisan cooperation</h2>
<p>If the goal is to assess how oversight is weaponized politically, the most obvious metric might appear to be: Is an investigation bipartisan? Scholars and citizens could look at whether committee reports are issued jointly by the majority and minority parties, and whether both parties sign off on subpoenas and other information requests. </p>
<p>There are problems with using bipartisanship as a sole metric for quality, however. Members of Congress might purposely refuse to work with their opposition, seeking to discredit an investigation by making it appear partisan when in principle it is not.</p>
<p>Additionally, it matters how partisanship is measured. If one Republican joins 20 Democrats on an investigative request, or vice versa, does that equate to bipartisanship? Do the parties actually work collaboratively, or separately? The lack of a specific definition of “bipartisanship” makes it a difficult standard to apply to assess oversight quality. </p>
<h2>3. Look to information sources</h2>
<p>An important, early part of the oversight process is gathering information about a particular agency or program. Considering the sources of that information is relevant to determining its credibility. For instance, recent scholarship has shown that, under divided government, committees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422000405">invite a smaller proportion of bureaucrats</a> to testify at hearings. Testimony from civil servants is particularly valuable for administrative oversight, since they are arguably the best positioned to inform Congress about the functioning of the agency programs that they administer.</p>
<p>Thus, a relative dearth of information-sharing between Congress and agency bureaucrats may affect the quality of the information the legislature receives about the government programs they oversee. </p>
<h2>4. Look to effectiveness</h2>
<p>Oversight quality may also be assessed by measuring its effects. Do oversight and investigations actually lead to measurable changes in agency behavior? Research suggests that when Congress chooses to conduct oversight hearings on specific problems in government, those <a href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol95/iss5/12/">problems are significantly less likely</a> to recur.</p>
<p>However, these measures tell more about whether an investigation achieved its intended – potentially partisan – goal, and less about whether the investigation itself was rigorous, objective and rooted in facts.</p>
<h2>5. Look to the people</h2>
<p>Finally, oversight quality may simply be in the eye of the beholder. In other words, “good” oversight is whatever Congress – and, by extension, the electorate – says it is. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2585479">little evidence</a> that voters consciously split their tickets – that is, vote for candidates from different parties on the same ballot. However, in midterm elections, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-presidents-party-almost-always-has-a-bad-midterm/">the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress</a>, indicating voters’ desire for balance against the incumbent administration. </p>
<p>In the 2022 midterms, the Republican takeover of the House can be largely explained by <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/republican-gains-in-2022-midterms-driven-mostly-by-turnout-advantage/">higher turnout among Republican voters</a>. And <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/17/politics/popular-vote-midterms-what-matters/index.html">Republican candidates received more votes nationally</a> than Democrats. </p>
<p>These results show that citizens who were enthusiastic enough to vote wanted the GOP in charge. Before the midterms, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/04/politics/gop-investigations-republican-plans-hunter-biden/index.html">Republicans made no secret of their intentions</a> to investigate Democratic-run institutions, such as the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and it is fair to say that voters anticipated this agenda. Voters are getting what they were promised. In a democracy, that may be the form of legitimacy that matters most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Leavitt has received funding from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.</span></em></p>The GOP in the House and Senate is doing lots of investigations; Democrats did the same in the past. A scholar of congressional oversight asks: When are investigations justified?Claire Leavitt, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100262023-07-18T18:46:04Z2023-07-18T18:46:04ZTargeting Trump for prosecution – 4 essential reads on how the Jan. 6 investigation laid the groundwork for the special counsel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538099/original/file-20230718-23-w0udzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C107%2C2878%2C1899&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump, left, may yet face off again in federal court against Jack Smith.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumpClassifiedDocuments/045f472d792142a0bad5aba2b745ffe1/photo">Associated Press</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the news on July 18, 2023, that Special Counsel Jack Smith had informed former <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/18/us/trump-jan-6-letter">President Donald Trump that he was a target</a> of the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the related Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, speculation began immediately among political analysts and pundits about what charges the former president might face. </p>
<p>But criminal investigations are not public, so drawing conclusions about what charges Smith might bring would have to rely on indications from other sources. </p>
<p>One place to find some possible hints: Smith’s investigation into Trump came on the heels of the sprawling public investigation of the Capitol insurrection by the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th">House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack</a>, known colloquially as the House January 6 committee. </p>
<p>The committee interviewed 1,200 people, including former Trump staff, state election officials and people who had participated in the Jan. 6 attack. Its <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report">final report</a> was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145160544/jan-6-report-committee-donald-trump">845 pages long</a> and provided many previously unknown facts and details about what happened on Jan. 6 and in the days and weeks leading up to it. The committee <a href="https://apnews.com/article/january-6-final-hearing-investigation-wraps-0bceb95826c1c836023d2810ccbeccca">recommended Trump be charged</a> with conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to make a false statement and aiding an insurrection. </p>
<p>Here are four of The Conversation’s stories about the committee’s work to help you understand what it did, what it found and how its work may fit into what could be yet another historic prosecution of a former U.S. president. Three of the four were written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">Claire Leavitt</a>, a Smith College scholar of congressional oversight whose analyses are grounded in real-world experience: She spent a year working on the Democratic majority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of men and women, looking down at notes as they sit at a high table, all in a row." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson delivers remarks during a January 6 committee business meeting on Capitol Hill, March 28, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chairman-rep-bennie-thompson-delivers-remarks-during-a-news-photo/1239592215?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. What’s an investigation and what’s a hearing?</h2>
<p>As the committee prepared for its first public hearing, Leavitt laid out its two-pronged functions: investigation first, public hearings second. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-public-hearing-is-different-from-an-investigation-and-what-that-means-for-the-jan-6-committee-184342">Blockbuster hearings are fascinating and even fun</a>,” wrote Leavitt. “They dominate the political and cultural conversation and prompt movie stars to show up in ‘Saturday Night Live’ cold opens. But what do they actually accomplish?”</p>
<p>Such high-profile hearings, wrote Leavitt, actually represent the end of the investigative process. They “tend to be choreographed affairs, presenting a tightly woven narrative to the public. By now, most of the investigative work has already been done.”</p>
<p>Hearings “establish a shared foundation of facts that can inform short- and long-term debates – around the dinner table, in the media, in Congress and among scholars – over how major events should be interpreted,” wrote Leavitt. And they can also serve as a “a kind of preemptive justification for specific legal and legislative actions that may follow the investigation.”</p>
<p>For example, Leavitt wrote, “if the committee does end up recommending criminal charges against Trump and his allies, the hearings have already explained the legitimacy of these charges to the public.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-public-hearing-is-different-from-an-investigation-and-what-that-means-for-the-jan-6-committee-184342">How a public hearing is different from an investigation – and what that means for the Jan. 6 committee</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An antique-looking newspaper clipping about a Senate committee's attempt to get witnesses to testify in 1860." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A brief New York Times story from Jan. 26, 1860, about witnesses summoned to testify at a Senate committee investigation of John Brown and fellow abolitionists’ raid on a government arsenal at Harpers Ferry, in what is now West Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1860/01/26/88149088.html?pageNumber=2">New York Times archive screenshot</a></span>
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<h2>2. Historic event given time-tested congressional scrutiny</h2>
<p>Leavitt also set the January 6 committee’s work – really, its very existence – in historical context. For all the complaints by Trump and his allies that the investigation was illegitimate and a “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-responded-jan-6-committee/story?id=95323334">witch hunt</a>,” Leavitt wrote that the committee’s work <a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-tackled-unprecedented-attack-with-time-tested-inquiry-195999">fit squarely into the U.S. democratic tradition</a>.</p>
<p>“The committee’s recommendation to prosecute a former president was unprecedented. But its investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, fell squarely within Congress’ power and added a new chapter to a centurieslong history of congressional investigations into government scandals and failures,” she wrote.</p>
<p>Congress has the power to investigate. “Its standing and special committees,” wrote Leavitt, “known as select committees, regularly conduct both preemptive oversight and retroactive investigations. Their aim: to identify specific cases of wrongdoing both inside and outside government.” </p>
<p>And it’s the committee’s identification of wrongdoing that could have provided fodder for Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-tackled-unprecedented-attack-with-time-tested-inquiry-195999">Jan. 6 committee tackled unprecedented attack with time-tested inquiry</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The backs of four people are seen looking at a projector screen that says 'Two. Conspiracy to defraud the United States,' with the words 'criminal referral of President Donald J. Trump to the Department of Justice.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The House January 6 committee announced four recommended charges against Donald Trump, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1450388267/photo/house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol-holds-final.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=E1rElTdlVPQiszH-7ZgsepscBa6aIY5H8C1o4izW81M=">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>3. Legitimizing the drive for accountability</h2>
<p>Did the January 6 committee pave the way for Jack Smith to charge Trump in connection with the events to overturn the election?</p>
<p>With its decision to recommend charges against Trump, the January 6 committee members, wrote Santa Clara University legal scholar <a href="https://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/russell-margaret/">Margaret Russell</a>, had “reached the brink. This bipartisan committee, which comprised seven Democrats and two Republicans, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-criminal-referral-of-trump-means-a-constitutional-law-expert-explains-the-jan-6-committee-action-196841">decided unanimously</a> that backing away from criminal charges would be a dereliction of its duty to recommend, based on what it has found.”</p>
<p>The magnitude of the charges the committee recommended, “particularly the insurrection one, is unprecedented,” wrote Russell. </p>
<p>And while the committee itself could not force charges to be brought, Russell said their recommendation had “very strong teeth in the sense of urging the Department of Justice to make sure that there is accountability.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-criminal-referral-of-trump-means-a-constitutional-law-expert-explains-the-jan-6-committee-action-196841">What the criminal referral of Trump means – a constitutional law expert explains the Jan. 6 committee action</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman dressed in a black jacket and white shirt wipes tears from her face while giving testimony at a table in a large room filled with people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss, a former Georgia election worker, testifying as her mother, Ruby Freeman, watches during a hearing held by the House January 6 committee on June 21, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wandrea-arshaye-shaye-moss-former-georgia-election-worker-news-photo/1241441997?phrase=january%206%20committee%20wandrea&adppopup=true">Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. History takes time</h2>
<p>Regardless of whether the House January 6 committee’s work contributed to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, its work should be seen as historic, wrote Leavitt. But that will take time to become clear. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committees-fact-finding-and-bipartisanship-will-lead-to-an-impact-in-coming-decades-if-not-tomorrow-192324">Assessing the full impact of the investigation</a> requires patience – probably decades’ worth,” Leavitt wrote. </p>
<p>“The process by which events become part of the public consciousness is slow and often imperceptible, but it is a legacy arguably as important as the discrete electoral or policy outcomes that emerge – or not – in the short term.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committees-fact-finding-and-bipartisanship-will-lead-to-an-impact-in-coming-decades-if-not-tomorrow-192324">Jan. 6 Committee's fact-finding and bipartisanship will lead to an impact in coming decades, if not tomorrow</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Before there was Jack Smith, there was the House January 6 committee. Its work and findings may provide a hint about what new charges Smith might lodge against former President Donald Trump.Naomi Schalit, Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1949952023-01-12T13:21:13Z2023-01-12T13:21:13ZCongress investigates presidents, the military, baseball and whatever it wants – a brief modern history of oversight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504124/original/file-20230111-47547-2vxcga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5697%2C3795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy walks to the speaker's ceremonial office at the Capitol on Jan. 9, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Congress/b9c29b908c04433fb3b7438eb8427703/photo?Query=Kevin%20McCarthy&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=now-14d&totalCount=722&currentItemNo=23">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After regaining a slim majority in the House of Representatives in the November 2022 midterm elections, Republicans unveiled their plans for a series of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/10/politics/gop-investigations-new-congress/index.html">investigations into the Biden administration</a>. </p>
<p>The new Republican majority – after four years in the relatively powerless minority – plans to investigate <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/politics/house-republicans-white-house-hunter-biden/index.html">the Biden family’s connections to foreign businesses</a>, the possible impeachment of <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/five-key-house-republican-investigations-/6911266.html">Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/20/gop-afghan-probe-worries-white-house/">the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>Republicans will also establish a Select Committee on China to assess the growing power of what GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy calls “<a href="https://www.republicanleader.gov/leader-mccarthy-announces-rep-mike-gallagher-as-chairman-of-the-china-select-committee/">the greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime</a>.”</p>
<p>And the House will establish a special Judiciary subcommittee to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/us/politics/house-republican-committee-weaponization-government.html">investigate “weaponization of the federal government</a>” and potential bias against conservatives in federal investigations. That subcommittee would give GOP Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio the power to subpoena information from ongoing Department of Justice investigations into former President Donald Trump.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-hearings-are-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-when-it-comes-to-important-congressional-oversight-hearings-185369">Investigations are a legitimate function of Congress</a>. But there’s another explanation from political science scholarship for all this digging for dirt: Congressional investigations aimed at the White House <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/s0022381613001448">can diminish the president’s approval rating</a>. And House Republicans’ legislative agenda may be frustrated by the Senate Democratic majority and the veto power of Democratic President Joe Biden – they won’t be able to pass bills. </p>
<p>So it’s unsurprising that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40263459">congressional investigations increase under divided government</a>, when Congress and the presidency are controlled by opposing parties, and decrease when the president’s party allies control Congress. </p>
<p>Oversight and investigations almost always occur at the committee level and are dictated by the majority on most panels. House Republicans have the autonomy to initiate investigations into virtually any issue they choose. </p>
<h2>A political weapon?</h2>
<p>Leaders in both parties <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/72494-how-oversight-should-work-rep-darrell-issa/">have stressed</a> that good oversight <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/04/trump-investigation-house-democrats-congress-219624/">requires diligent, nonpartisan work that prioritizes fact-finding</a> over political theater. </p>
<p>Yet each party also regularly <a href="https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/rep-schiff-blasts-republican-benghazi-report-">accuses the other</a> of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-wont-talk-to-the-jan-6-committee-democrats-gop-secrets-lefitimacy-trump-weaponizing-government-power-11653597483">using oversight as a political weapon</a>. </p>
<p>Thus, to retain credibility, congressional leaders under divided government are strategic when choosing what to investigate. </p>
<p>Historically, new majorities have targeted the incumbent administration under divided government. But they have also established oversight targets that highlight pet issues, from wasteful government spending to private-sector abuses. </p>
<p>I’m <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">a scholar of government oversight</a> who worked as a fellow on the the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Here are notable investigations pursued by four different Congresses since 1995. They show the range of congressional oversight, from baseball to the conduct of a president – and a would-be president. </p>
<h2>1. Republican takeover in the 104th Congress of 1995-1996</h2>
<p>In 1994, during President Bill Clinton’s first term, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2007/11/congress-runs-into-republican-revolution-nov-8-1994-006757">Republicans regained control of the House</a> for the first time in 40 years. They took over the Senate for the first time in eight years. </p>
<p>New House Speaker Newt Gingrich prioritized the Republicans’ reform agenda, known as the “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19990427174200/http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html">Contract with America</a>.” The contract emphasized Republicans’ commitment to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in government spending, including within Congress itself. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a coat and tie sits in front of a microphone and gestures." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504086/original/file-20230111-32622-hndvs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the first Republican to lead the House in decades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HouseSpeakerNewtGingrich/bd06ec65e7514f8892ad23bef050a335/photo">AP Photo/Greg Gibson</a></span>
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<p>An <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/18/independent-house-audit-finds-millions-wasted-controls-limited/c9dd3d37-1a38-4573-9f76-94d188fd2be6/">independent private audit</a> of the House’s accounting practices commissioned by the Republican majority revealed wasteful spending by House officers and member failure to abide by House spending rules. </p>
<p>Republicans in the 104th Congress also launched major investigations into the Clinton administration. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held several hearings into the alleged politically motivated <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/104th-congress/house-report/849/1">firing of seven White House Travel Office employees</a>. In 1998, an independent prosecutor concluded that <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-11-20-9811200161-story.html">there was no evidence to charge the Clintons for wrongdoing</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, the Senate established a special committee to investigate property investments in the Whitewater Development Corp. made by Bill and Hillary Clinton when they were governor and first lady of Arkansas. After a 13-month investigation, the Republican majority’s final report accused the Clinton administration of “<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-104srpt280/pdf/CRPT-104srpt280.pdf">highly improper conduct</a>” but did not provide evidence of criminality.</p>
<h2>2. Democratic takeover in the 110th Congress, 2007-2008</h2>
<p>In the midterm elections of 2006, during President George W. Bush’s second term, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/16/house-control-by-year/">Democrats won control of both chambers</a>. </p>
<p>Democrats devoted significant attention to oversight of nongovernment organizations. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg55749/pdf/CHRG-110hhrg55749.pdf">They investigated the use of steroids in professional baseball</a> and <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg45219/pdf/CHRG-110hhrg45219.pdf">abuses of private security contractors</a> in Iraq and Afghanistan. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three men sit in suits sit at a table, with a chart behind them showing oil company profits rising over time." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504088/original/file-20230111-17-474ltv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee investigated oil company profits and other issues relating to climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/from-left-rep-jay-inslee-d-wash-and-rep-earl-blumenauer-d-news-photo/99576140">Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Democrats also investigated the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq War, as well as intelligence failures <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/110345.pdf">in the run-up to the 2003 invasion</a>. </p>
<p>The new Democratic majority also elevated issues it believed Bush had neglected. For instance, <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/globalwarming/mediacenter/pressreleases_id=0045.html#main_content">accusing Republicans of “play[ing] the politics of climate change denial</a>,” House Democrats established the <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/globalwarming/index.html">Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming</a>. </p>
<p>The committee held 80 hearings over the next four years to investigate, among other issues, the influence of the oil and gas industry on <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/globalwarming/mediacenter/pressreleases_2008_id=0059.html#main_content">policy made by the Environmental Protection Agency</a>. </p>
<h2>3. Republican majority in the 112th Congress, 2011-2012</h2>
<p>In the 2010 midterm elections during President Barack Obama’s first term, Republicans recaptured the House majority. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-2010-shellacking-is-like-bushs-2006-thumping/">Obama described it as a “shellacking</a>.”</p>
<p>House Republicans focused their attention on examining a range of issues, including <a href="https://www.congress.gov/event/112th-congress/house-event/LC3118/text?s=1&r=15">Islamic radicalization</a> and <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/impact-of-obamacare-on-job-creators-and-their-decision-to-offer-health-insurance/">the economic impacts of the Affordable Care Act</a>. </p>
<p>Republicans also aggressively conducted oversight of the Obama administration. House and Senate committees launched a major investigation into the so-called “<a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-issa-release-first-part-final-joint-report-operation-fast-and-furious">Fast and Furious” gun-running operation at the Department of Justice</a>. The inquiry led to the House’s holding Attorney General Eric Holder <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2012/06/holder-held-in-contempt-of-congress-077988">in contempt of Congress</a> for failing to respond to committee subpoenas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A row of men in suits sit at a table. One leans forward and gestures with his hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504089/original/file-20230111-26-r0cqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Led by South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy, second from right, the House Select Committee on Benghazi investigated a 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BenghaziInvestigation/3bf01f8d31df443bafd8b865172240e5/photo">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Toward the end of the 112th Congress, Republicans also began to investigate the Obama administration’s handling of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/10/world/benghazi-consulate-attack-fast-facts/index.html">deadly terrorist attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya</a>, on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. In the next Congress, Republicans established a special committee <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt848/CRPT-114hrpt848.pdf">dedicated to investigating the Benghazi attacks</a>.</p>
<p>That investigation revealed that when she was secretary of state Hillary Clinton had used a private email server, not the government server she was required to use. The ensuing scandal may have contributed to Clinton’s <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/">loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Democrats take over House in the 116th Congress, 2019-2020</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Congress/0bf43b961da74226ab031cb7d9230c5c/photo">2018 midterm elections</a> during Trump’s term, Democrats regained control of the House. </p>
<p>The new majority quickly turned its attention to the Trump administration. In one of the first high-profile hearings of the 116th Congress, the House Oversight and Reform Committee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rKCWG0VOYw">heard testimony from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen</a> about, among other issues, Trump’s alleged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of men and women in suits stands around a wooden table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504093/original/file-20230111-46586-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democrats in the U.S. House investigated President Donald Trump’s income tax returns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-members-of-the-house-ways-and-means-committee-news-photo/1245766550">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The House Ways and Means Committee began its quest to obtain Trump’s tax returns as part of its probe into accounting practices at the Internal Revenue Service. This investigation led to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/us/supreme-court-trump-taxes-house-democrats.html">protracted legal battle</a> and culminated in a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/trump-tax-summary-ways-and-means-committee/index.html">final report issued at the end of 2022</a> and the <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/house-ways-and-means-trump-tax-report/ee70519acd75513e/full.pdf">public release of six years of Trump’s returns</a> soon after. </p>
<p>And in the fall of 2019, the House began its impeachment inquiry into allegations that Trump had threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine in order to <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CDOC-116sdoc13/context">damage one of his primary political opponents, Joe Biden</a>. Trump was impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstruction of justice, though he was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020. </p>
<p>Democrats also launched major inquiries into the private sector, including into <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/10/house-democrats-find-three-year-investigation-that-drug-prices-are-unsustainable-unjustifiable-unfair/">drug-pricing practices in the pharmaceutical industry</a> and the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/13/politics/juul-house-investigation-krishnamoorthi-health/index.html">marketing of e-cigarettes to teenagers</a>. </p>
<h2>It’s all legit</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/10/house-vote-republicans-committee-investigate-government/">A Washington Post headline</a> on Jan. 10, 2023, described one of the newly announced GOP probes this way: “House Republicans form committee to investigate the government.” </p>
<p>That’s a broad brief for a committee. But the range of past investigations has shown that Congress can, essentially, investigate what it wants to investigate. Baseball one year, government the next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Leavitt has received funding from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. </span></em></p>The House GOP has announced a slew of investigations, including a review of the conduct of the Department of Justice and its investigations of Donald Trump.Claire Leavitt, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959992022-12-23T13:12:55Z2022-12-23T13:12:55ZJan. 6 committee tackled unprecedented attack with time-tested inquiry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502472/original/file-20221221-20-vyealk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5015%2C3331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Dec. 19, 2022 meeting of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, DC. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-image-is-displayed-on-a-screen-during-a-meeting-of-the-news-photo/1245732523?phrase=House%20January%206%20committee&adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 18 months, more than 1,200 interviews and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/20/jan-6-committees-unanswered-questions">10 public hearings that presented 70 witnesses’ testimony</a>, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/january-6-committee-final-report/2095325cbebd8378/full.pdf">released its 845-page final report</a> late on Dec. 22, 2022. The report recommended that the Department of Justice prosecute former President Donald Trump on four criminal charges, including conspiracy and incitement of insurrection. It also contained several legislative recommendations, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/22/1139951463/electoral-count-act-reform-passes">reform of the process</a> to count electoral votes in presidential elections. The committee also notably recommended that Congress bar Trump and other officials involved in the insurrection from running for office again under the 14th amendment.</p>
<p>The committee’s recommendation to prosecute a former president was unprecedented. But its investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021 fell squarely within Congress’ power, and added a new chapter to a centuries-long history of congressional investigations into government scandals and failures.</p>
<h2>Regular oversight</h2>
<p>Congress has broad investigative powers. Its standing and special committees, known as select committees, regularly conduct <a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-hearings-are-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-when-it-comes-to-important-congressional-oversight-hearings-185369">both preemptive oversight and retroactive investigations</a>. Their aim: to identify specific cases of wrongdoing both inside and outside government. </p>
<p>Committee investigative reports, released at the end of focused probes, often serve as valuable historical documents. They provide detailed chronicles of the events that motivated the inquiries. For instance, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt848/CRPT-114hrpt848.pdf">the final report released by the House Select Committee on Benghazi</a> offered a minute-by-minute accounting of events leading to the deadly terrorist attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. </p>
<p>The reports typically reiterate the questions that prompted the investigation, explain how the committee conducted its work and delineate the relevant evidence and progression of events. Finally, a report will provide provides recommendations for fixing the problems the inquiry uncovered. </p>
<p>These recommendations may be classified into three distinct types: legal, legislative and institutional. Of the 11 distinct recommendations the Jan. 6th committee offered in its final report, one was a legal recommendation focused on accountability, nine proposed new policies and actions, and one proposed increased oversight in Congress itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An antique-looking newspaper clipping about a Senate committee's attempt to get witnesses to testify in 1860." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A brief New York Times story from Jan. 26, 1860, about witnesses summoned to testify at a Senate committee investigation of John Brown and fellow abolitionists’ raid on a government arsenal at Harpers Ferry, in what is now W.Va.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1860/01/26/88149088.html?pageNumber=2">New York Times archive screenshot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Legal referrals</h2>
<p>Committees can recommend legal action, such as civil or criminal prosecutions, or both. But Congress cannot itself levy civil or criminal charges against the subjects of investigations. </p>
<p>Instead, committees may recommend that the Department of Justice consider indictments based on the evidence presented in the final committee reports. Federal prosecutors often conduct their own parallel investigations during the same time frame as congressional inquiries but take Congress’ evidence and referrals seriously. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/19/us/jan-6-committee-trump">Jan. 6th committee’s vote on Dec. 19, 2022</a> was the first time Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution.</p>
<p>In the 1920s, during its investigation of <a href="https://www.levin-center.org/thomas-walsh-and-the-teapot-dome-investigation/">the Teapot Dome bribery scandal</a>, the Senate Public Lands Committee <a href="http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/teapotdome.htm">found evidence of corruption by, among others</a>, Interior Secretary Albert Fall. Committee Chairman Thomas Walsh recommended that Fall be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1924/02/10/archives/walsh-arraigns-teapot-dome-looters.html">prosecuted for “contemptuous disregard of the law.”</a> <a href="https://www.levin-center.org/thomas-walsh-and-the-teapot-dome-investigation/">Fall was also investigated by special counsels</a> appointed by President Calvin Coolidge and was indicted and served prison time for bribery. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, <a href="https://www.levin-center.org/the-watergate-hearings/">Congress’ investigation</a> into the Nixon administration’s cover-up of the Watergate break-in led to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/us/watergate-fast-facts/index.html">the conviction of three Nixon aides for obstruction of justice</a>. In the 1980s, the Senate’s Iran-Contra investigation, along with the independent Tower Commission’s report, into secret and unlawful arms sales to Iran by the Reagan administration <a href="https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/prosecutions.php">led to the convictions of three Reagan administration advisers</a> for charges ranging from conspiracy to obstruction of Congress. </p>
<p>In highly political investigations, Congress may stop short of recommending specific criminal charges. But it can encourage federal prosecutors to review the committee’s findings over the course of their own investigations. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/timeline.htm">in 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed an independent counsel</a> to investigate property investments in the Whitewater Development Corp. made by Bill and Hillary Clinton when they were governor and first lady of Arkansas. </p>
<p>A year later, the Senate established a special committee to conduct its own Whitewater inquiry. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-104srpt280/pdf/CRPT-104srpt280.pdf">In the Republican majority’s final report</a>, the committee accused the Clinton administration of “highly improper conduct.” But it stopped short of recommending criminal indictments. </p>
<p>In a follow-up letter <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/infocus/whitewater/repub.letter.html">to independent counsel Kenneth Starr</a>, the committee suggested that he “take whatever action you deem appropriate” after reviewing the committee’s evidence against three Clinton aides. <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/070199hubbell-starr.html">Starr later indicted one of those aides for fraud</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Many circus clowns in a room watching a TV." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500475/original/file-20221212-113234-uu5no9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Senate’s Watergate hearings, which began May 17, 1973, were watched by an estimated 3 out of 4 of the nation’s homes. Clowns on a break from Shrine Circus in Pittsburgh watched during their time off.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/between-the-acts-clowns-from-the-shrine-circus-take-time-to-news-photo/1169767644?phrase=watergate%20hearing&adppopup=true">Bettmann Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Legislative recommendations</h2>
<p>Committee reports often include guides for policy reform in both the executive and legislative branches to address the failures that sparked the investigation. </p>
<p>Perhaps a committee’s most far-reaching set of legislative proposals came <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/church-committee.htm">after the Church Committee investigated</a> the CIA’s role in the assassination of foreign leaders and its potentially unconstitutional domestic surveillance. The committee in 1976 made 96 recommendations for reforming the U.S. intelligence community in <a href="https://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/contents/church/contents_church_reports_ir.htm">its final six-volume report</a>. </p>
<p>Two years after the report’s release, Congress followed through. It passed <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/it/privacy-civil-liberties/authorities/statutes/1286">the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act</a>, commonly known as “FISA.” The law required intelligence agencies to obtain warrants before conducting surveillance on American citizens. </p>
<p>In light of the committee’s revelations of the FBI’s spying on activists like Martin Luther King Jr. – <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/federal-bureau-investigation-fbi">approved by the long-standing agency director, J. Edgar Hoover</a> – Congress also established a single 10-year term for FBI directors. </p>
<p>And while Congress did not enact the Church Committee’s proposal to <a href="https://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/ir/html/ChurchIR_0148a.htm">ban foreign assassinations</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Executive-Order-11905">President Gerald Ford did so</a> via executive order in 1976. This order was revised, yet <a href="https://irp.fas.org/crs/RS21037.pdf">upheld, by Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton</a>. But it was weakened by policies adopted for the U.S. war on terror beginning in 2001. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">CIA Director William Colby is interrogated by Sen. Frank Church at a 1975 hearing of the Church Committee on intelligence operations. Colby exhibits a dart pistol that fires poisonous ammunition.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Institutional modifications</h2>
<p>Committees can make suggestions for increasing the ease and effectiveness of future oversight, both inside and outside Congress. Such a move can be sold to fellow legislators as a nonpartisan imperative for checking executive power.</p>
<p>For example, after the conclusion of the Truman Committee’s World War II-era investigation in which it was charged with “<a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/PSI%20Historical%20Background%20-%20Updated%20to%20116th%20Congress.pdf">exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in the war effort and war profiteering</a>,” Congress made the committee permanent, establishing the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. That subcommittee currently has the broadest investigative jurisdiction of any Senate committee, with the power to investigate all government agencies as well as all “<a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/PSI%20Historical%20Background%20-%20Updated%20to%20116th%20Congress.pdf">aspects of crime and lawlessness within the United States which … affect the national health, welfare, and safety</a>.”</p>
<p>And in response to the Church Committee’s suggestion in 1976, Congress established Permanent Select Committees on Intelligence <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10535577">in the House</a> <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/about">and Senate</a>. Both have access to classified information and oversight of the U.S. intelligence community, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. </p>
<p>Congress can also pass laws to facilitate or strengthen oversight within government agencies themselves. For instance, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-92/pdf/STATUTE-92-Pg1101.pdf">the Inspector General Act of 1978</a> established centralized, independent oversight offices in major government agencies. It <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45450">was inspired by</a> a <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/63790NCJRS.pdf">House committee’s final report</a> on waste and mismanagement in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. </p>
<h2>Political effects</h2>
<p>Committee reports may also have important political consequences, though those effects are not necessarily planned or anticipated. </p>
<p>During its 2014-2016 investigation, for instance, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/committee/house-select-committee-on-the-events-surrounding-the-2012-terrorist-attack-in-benghazi/hlzi00">House Benghazi committee</a> discovered that Hillary Clinton had improperly used a private email server when she was secretary of state.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html">The committee did not recommend criminal charges against Clinton</a>. But it condemned the State Department for delays in turning over Clinton’s emails to the committee <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt848/CRPT-114hrpt848.pdf">and argued that</a> “[T]he manner in which those records were housed during and after her tenure … makes it impossible to ever represent to the families of those killed in Benghazi that the record is whole.” </p>
<p>The email controversy would dog Clinton in her 2016 campaign for the presidency. The decision by FBI Director James Comey, in October 2016, <a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/director-comey-letter-to-congress-dated-october-28-2016/Director%20Comey%20Letter%20to%20Congress%20Dated%20October%2028%2C%202016%20Part%2001%20of%2001/view">to inform Congress of new information</a> regarding Clinton’s emails <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/">may have contributed to her loss to Donald Trump in November 2016</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Leavitt has received funding from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. </span></em></p>The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report is the latest in a long series of congressional studies that have tried to answer hard questions about government failures and suggest ways to avoid them.Claire Leavitt, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967542022-12-20T13:36:33Z2022-12-20T13:36:33ZThe Jan. 6 committee makes its case against Trump, his allies and their conspiracy to commit an insurrection: Five essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501907/original/file-20221219-18-2cgf3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=588%2C162%2C3414%2C2502&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, is chairman of the House select committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rep-bennie-thompson-chairman-of-the-house-select-committee-news-photo/1244858902?phrase=bennie%20thompson&adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From its first public hearing on June 9, 2022, the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capital has offered hours of riveting testimony detailing America’s first nonpeaceful transfer of presidential power.</p>
<p>The committee, which is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/politics/january-6-committee-final-public-meeting/index.html">expected to be dissolved</a> when the GOP-led House convenes in January 2023, may not be remembered for its production of voluminous evidence and slick television video clips. Instead, the committee may be remembered more for what it could not do – criminally indict former President Donald Trump for his leadership role in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden. </p>
<p>That task is left to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is also conducting an investigation of Trump. But the committee’s work had a broader goal. The hearings are expected to have a historic impact that may take years to be seen and felt, writes <a href="https://www.smith.edu/academics/faculty/claire-leavitt">Claire Leavitt</a>, a Smith College assistant professor of government.</p>
<p>“What viewers saw is perhaps even more significant – it was history being written in real time,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-hearing-gives-primetime-exposure-to-violent-footage-and-dramatic-evidence-the-question-is-to-what-end-184416">wrote Leavitt, a scholar of government oversight</a>.</p>
<p>As the hearings unfolded, The Conversation published several articles looking at the details that emerged about organizers of, and participants in, the assault, the history of congressional oversight and whether a U.S. president can be held criminally accountable for his or her actions – and inactions.</p>
<h2>1. Behind-the-scenes committee stars</h2>
<p>As a scholar of government and the separation of powers, <a href="https://publish.illinois.edu/jselin/">Jennifer Selin</a> observes that among the real stars of the committee’s work are the talented – and largely unrecognized – teams of staffers who worked to obtain the evidence presented in the hearings. </p>
<p>“While the rioters on Jan. 6 shouted through the halls of Congress about taking back the power of the people, their insurrection failed,” Selin wrote. “Instead, the men and women helping the Jan. 6 committee understand what went on that day are quietly, insistently, reminding Americans of the bedrock values of their republic.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-hearings-show-what-went-right-not-just-what-went-wrong-185246">Jan. 6 committee hearings show what went right, not just what went wrong</a>
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<h2>2. What prosecuting a leader means</h2>
<p>As scholars of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W54pBFgAAAAJ&hl=en">liberal democracy</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FlYT3TEAAAAJ&hl=en">elections</a>, Victor Menaldo and James D. Long examine <a href="https://theconversation.com/prosecuting-ex-presidents-for-corruption-is-trending-worldwide-but-its-not-always-great-for-democracy-156931">the ranks of leaders</a> from other countries who were once thought to be untouchable but who ultimately faced justice.</p>
<p>Based on the hearings, there is now far more evidence than what was presented during Trump’s second impeachment trial of potential crimes during the waning days of his tenure. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A middle-aged man wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie is seen on a large screen talking on a telephone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475451/original/file-20220721-14415-rf13tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A visual of President Donald Trump is shown during the July 12, 2022, congressional hearings investigating the attack on the Capitol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/july-12-2022-a-visual-of-president-donald-trump-is-shown-as-news-photo/1241888427?adppopup=true">Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The evidence not only points to Trump’s failure to perform his constitutional duties on Jan. 6, 2021, but also includes some potential meat-and-potatoes offenses like intimidation of government officials with the threat of force and obstruction of Congress. </p>
<p>What would happen if Trump were indicted? Menaldo and Long write that their examination of other countries that prosecuted leaders leads to the conclusion that “Strong democracies are usually competent enough – and the judicial system independent enough – to go after politicians who misbehave, including top leaders.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-trumps-role-on-jan-6-becoming-clearer-and-potentially-criminal-gop-voters-are-starting-to-look-at-different-options-186108">With Trump's role on Jan. 6 becoming clearer, and potentially criminal, GOP voters are starting to look at different options</a>
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<h2>3. Trump’s complex connection to Capitol rioters</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amy-Cooter">Amy Cooter</a> is a senior lecturer in sociology at Vanderbilt University. From 2008 through 2012, she embedded with militia groups, mostly in Michigan. Her research on these groups makes it easier to understand the Jan. 6 riot and the relationship it had to Trump. </p>
<p>“Militias always see themselves as prepared for action,” Cooter writes. “Usually, this means they’re prepared to defend themselves and their communities in the event of a natural disaster, or some kind of invasion.”</p>
<p>But as the hearings revealed, some of these groups <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/court-document-proud-boys-case-laid-plan-occupy-capitol-buildings-jan-rcna33755">appeared to have been planning</a> more than just a defensive stance on Jan. 6. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-set-to-examine-trumps-connection-to-capitol-rioters-a-militia-expert-explains-this-complex-relationship-186814">Jan. 6 committee set to examine Trump's connection to Capitol rioters – a militia expert explains this complex relationship</a>
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<h2>4.Why Trump can’t be prosecuted for ‘dereliction of duty’</h2>
<p>During the prime-time hearing on July 21, 2022, of the House committee, the two panel members leading the hearing used the phrase “dereliction of duty” to describe the conduct of then-President Trump.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.westpoint.edu/law/profile/tim_bakken">a former prosecutor in New York City</a> and a professor of law at West Point, Tim Bakken believes that most people find solace in casting the most disparaging label possible upon an adversary.</p>
<p>But federal criminal law does not contain a dereliction of duty statute.</p>
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<img alt="Crowds of people waving Trump banners and American flags gather outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460657/original/file-20220501-12-u7quvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters gather near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-gather-storm-the-capitol-and-halt-a-joint-news-photo/1230458732?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In Bakken’s view, a more precise way to consider the legality of Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 is to determine whether he wanted the rioters to commit a criminal act and if he engaged in some speech or behavior that urged them to do so or assisted them in some way. </p>
<p>“In that sense,” Bakken wrote, “the House Committee might find that the President was derelict. But that finding would be a label of moral or social disapproval, not a description of a criminal offense.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-donald-trump-cant-be-prosecuted-for-dereliction-of-duty-for-his-inaction-on-jan-6-187407">Why Donald Trump can't be prosecuted for 'dereliction of duty' for his inaction on Jan. 6</a>
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<h2>5. Full impact of Jan. 6 committee’s findings might not be felt for years</h2>
<p>As a scholar of oversight, Leavitt spent a year in 2019 working on the Democratic majority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. </p>
<p>In her view, the committee’s work will have a historic impact in part because it took an approach that emphasized facts in presenting its case to the American people. </p>
<p>Those facts included extensive testimony from officials whose Republican bona fides are unimpeachable, such as former <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpwCApZh6KQ">Attorney General William Barr</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/cassidy-hutchinson-jan-6-hearing-testimony-illustrated/">former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06QUOzmMyec">Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger</a>. </p>
<p>Leavitt’s final assessment is that understanding the full impact of the investigation and the committee’s exhaustive report requires patience – probably decades’ worth. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committees-fact-finding-and-bipartisanship-will-lead-to-an-impact-in-coming-decades-if-not-tomorrow-192324">Jan. 6 Committee's fact-finding and bipartisanship will lead to an impact in coming decades, if not tomorrow</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The US select congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol has wrapped up its nearly two-year probe of that day’s violent but unsuccessful insurrection.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1923242022-10-13T12:21:58Z2022-10-13T12:21:58ZJan. 6 Committee’s fact-finding and bipartisanship will lead to an impact in coming decades, if not tomorrow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489460/original/file-20221012-11-ym4nec.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5773%2C3855&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tweet from former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen at the House Jan. 6 committee hearing on June 9, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tweet-from-former-president-donald-trump-is-shown-on-a-news-photo/1241210230">Jabin Botsford/POOL/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The committee formed to investigate the role of former President Donald Trump and key aides in last year’s Capitol insurrection faced high stakes as it held its 10th and possibly last public hearing on Oct. 13, 2022.</p>
<p>Since the committee debuted its evidence in prime time on June 9, 2022, Vice-Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the committee, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/us/politics/harriet-hageman-liz-cheney-wyoming.html">lost her House seat in a primary election</a>. The other GOP committee member, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/29/rep-adam-kinzinger-wont-seek-reelection-next-year-517599">announced last year that he isn’t running for reelection</a>. </p>
<p>Should Republicans regain the House majority in November’s midterm elections, presumptive Speaker Kevin McCarthy could disband, or reconstitute, the committee. Some GOP House members have indicated that they <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/15/politics/house-republicans-investigation-plans-trump/index.html">might use their newfound control over investigations to probe the committee members themselves</a> over how they have conducted their work. </p>
<p>Thus, the committee faces a ticking clock as it wraps up its hearings and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/26/jan6-committee-hearing-sept28-trump">finalizes its report</a>, which may recommend criminal charges against Trump and crucial election security reforms. However, it is possible that there will be no immediate legal, policy or political ramifications of the committee’s work. </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">a scholar of oversight</a> who in 2019 spent a year working on the Democratic majority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, I believe the committee’s work will have historic impact. That effect, though, may take years to be seen and felt.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman dressed in a black jacket and white shirt wipes tears from her face while giving testimony at a table in a large room filled with people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss, a former Georgia election worker, becomes emotional while testifying as her mother, Ruby Freeman, watches during a hearing held by the House January 6th committee on June 21, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wandrea-arshaye-shaye-moss-former-georgia-election-worker-news-photo/1241441997?phrase=january%206%20committee%20wandrea&adppopup=true">Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Accountability and effectiveness</h2>
<p>Although 919 people have been <a href="https://www.insider.com/all-the-us-capitol-pro-trump-riot-arrests-charges-names-2021-1">charged with crimes in relation to the Capitol insurrection thus far</a>, there’s still a lot the committee doesn’t know – or hasn’t revealed – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/29/trump-january-6-timeline/">about Trump’s direct involvement in the insurrection</a>. </p>
<p>And no matter how compelling a case the committee’s final report might make, the Department of Justice <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/doj-is-likely-to-wait-past-election-to-reveal-any-trump-charges">may simply choose not to indict</a> the former president. </p>
<p>In terms of policy changes that could emerge from the committee’s efforts, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electoral-count-act-reform-bill-passes-house-of-representatives-today-2022-09-21/">the House passed the Presidential Election Reform Act</a> in September 2022, which among other provisions clarifies the vice president’s role in the certification of Electoral College votes. The Senate has taken bipartisan action on their version of the bill, but its fate is still uncertain. </p>
<h2>Courting the public</h2>
<p>Political scientist Paul Light argues that the most “high impact” investigations over the course of American history achieved their success <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LIghtPaperDec2013.pdf">“through a mix of fact-finding, bipartisanship, and strong leadership</a>.” The Jan. 6th Committee took an approach that emphasized facts in presenting its case to the American people. </p>
<p>It dampened charges of partisanship leveled by Trump and his GOP supporters by granting Republicans Cheney and Kinzinger prominent roles. <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/lessons%E2%80%94and-limits%E2%80%94-jan-6-committee">Cheney chaired the committee’s final prime-time hearing this past summer</a>. And the committee showcased extensive testimony from officials whose Republican bona fides are unimpeachable, such as former <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpwCApZh6KQ">Attorney General William Barr</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/cassidy-hutchinson-jan-6-hearing-testimony-illustrated/">former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06QUOzmMyec">Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger</a>. </p>
<p>The committee also maximized its visibility by <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/06/jan-6-committee-adviser-james-goldston">hiring former ABC News President James Goldston</a> to produce the hearings, and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2022/07/09/the-january-6-hearings-are-the-best-television-series-of-the-summer/">approximately 55 million people watched at least part of the hearings this past summer</a>. </p>
<p>The committee even dominated the cultural conversation by highlighting meme-able moments, including Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri running from the rioters <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/22/josh-hawley-running-video-capitol/">after raising his fist in solidarity earlier that morning</a>. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/20/jan-6-hearings-trump-support-falls-00046662">some, though not overwhelming, evidence</a> that the hearings diminished support for Trump both in the polls and among donors. However, it’s worth recalling that public opinion as the Watergate scandal was unfolding did not reflect the extent to which <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/05/15/how-america-viewed-the-watergate-scandal-as-it-was-unfolding/">President Nixon’s legacy would suffer as a result</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing glasses and in a dark suit, sitting in front of an American flag along with a woman in a white jacket and wearing glasses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489412/original/file-20221012-24-1dn0nj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The committee’s leaders were Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, left, chairman, and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chairwoman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/representative-and-committee-chairman-bennie-thompson-and-news-photo/1241482478?phrase=january%206%20committee%20thompson%20cheney&adppopup=true">Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taking time to unfold</h2>
<p>Assessing the full impact of the investigation requires patience – probably decades’ worth. </p>
<p>I believe the House Jan. 6 committee’s legacy will depend on how its in-depth rendering of the events surrounding the 2020 election and the ensuing insurrection is presented, repeated and understood by successive generations of Americans. </p>
<p>Congress had originally planned to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pelosi-mccarthy-jan6-committee/2021/07/21/21722d44-ea41-11eb-84a2-d93bc0b50294_story.html">establish an independent body</a> to investigate the Capitol attacks, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/999930573/why-a-9-11-commission-is-popular-but-may-not-happen-for-the-jan-6-capitol-attack">modeled on the 9/11 Commission</a> – an idea killed by Senate Republicans last year. So the House committee’s work constitutes, at least thus far, the authoritative public record on the insurrection, with no credible competitor. </p>
<p>This record will serve as a permanent, invaluable cache of information for future investigators, both inside and outside of Congress. It will also inform and inspire the scholars, journalists, novelists and <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-movie-billy-ray-adam-mckay-1234916344/">filmmakers</a> who are already shaping the public’s collective understanding of a watershed moment in the history of American democracy. </p>
<p>The Jan. 6th committee’s <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/22/jan-6-report-book-publishers-new-yorker">unpublished report is in hot demand from publishers</a>. It is <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/jan-6-report-is-1-bestseller-in-america-before-release-exclusive-melber-foreword-on-coup-conspiracy-149050437948">already a bestseller in presales</a>, despite the fact that it will be freely available as part of the public domain.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/october-2020/a-new-view-of-event-history-collective-consciousness-as-a-historical-force">process by which events become part of the public consciousness</a> is slow and often imperceptible, but it is a legacy arguably as important as the discrete electoral or policy outcomes that emerge – or not – in the short term. </p>
<p>As one of my students at Smith College recently put it: “Being sixteen years old and watching people attack the Capitol - I never thought I’d see anything like it. The way my grandparents talk about JFK’s assassination or the Kent State massacre is the way I might talk about this to my kids someday.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Leavitt has received funding from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.</span></em></p>A lot of facts have come forward through the efforts of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. What will its efforts mean to the US?Claire Leavitt, Assistant professor of government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1821142022-07-13T12:30:09Z2022-07-13T12:30:09ZManuscripts and art support archaeological evidence that syphilis was in Europe long before explorers could have brought it home from the Americas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473438/original/file-20220711-26-m03ndy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=233%2C137%2C2193%2C1714&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does a painting from 1400 depict one of Jesus' torturers as suffering from 'saddle nose,' a common effect of syphilis?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.115">Detail of an Austrian painting c. 1400 of the Passion of Christ, The Cleveland Museum of Art</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>That the arrival of Europeans in the New World in 1492 led to a massive shift in the ecological landscape has been widely accepted <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alfred-w-crosby-on-the-columbian-exchange-98116477/">for the past 50 years</a>. Suddenly a trans-Atlantic exchange – maize for wheat, tomatoes for apples, tobacco for horses – meant that plants and animals were moving between continents for the first time.</p>
<p>It was the same for pathogens, according to historian Alfred W. Crosby and his influential book “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/columbian-exchange-biological-and-cultural-consequences-of-1492/oclc/930378865&referer=brief_results">The Columbian Exchange</a>.” Diseases like smallpox and measles, brought to the Western Hemisphere by the invaders, soon killed <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-years-ago-111579">almost the entire Indigenous population</a>. In return, Europeans fell prey to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis.htm">syphilis, a venereal disease</a> they picked up from the native people. Crosby’s idea about the exchange of diseases was an interesting one and it made for a good story, suggesting that with the arrival of syphilis in Europe justice of a sort had been done.</p>
<p>The only problem is that this syphilis scenario is wrong, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23988">ongoing research by paleopathologists</a>, scientists who study skeletal remains for evidence of disease. After decades of painstaking work, they have concluded that the syphilis-causing spirochete bacterium <em>Treponema pallidum</em> already existed in the Old World long before Columbus boarded his ship and sailed to Hispaniola.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=K6x0M5sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">women’s historian</a> who has studied documents and artworks for <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/842358">evidence of syphilis in the medieval period</a>, I believe the paleopathologists are right. Like skeletal remains, paintings show life as it was. Even manuscripts, although more open to interpretation, can reveal the truth once readers open their minds to new possibilities. Here’s a sample of the evidence that <a href="https://www.arc-humanities.org/9781802700480/medieval-syphilis-and-treponemal-disease/">Europeans suffered from syphilis long before they reached the Americas</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="microscopic image of long white worm-like shapes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473689/original/file-20220712-13-wzc26o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Treponema pallidum</em> is a spiral-shaped bacterium that causes the disease syphilis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/treponema-pallidum-dark-field-preparation-syphilis-image-news-photo/509391914">CDC/Susan Lindsley/Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evidence from bones and teeth in the Old World</h2>
<p>In a cemetery in West Sussex, U.K., archaeologists uncovered the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22630">skeleton of a young man</a> with extensive damage to his skull, clavicles, arms and legs – a combination typical of syphilis. He died in the sixth century. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="skull with hole and areas where bone looks rotted away" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473456/original/file-20220711-18-t1llj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of a human skull damaged by late-stage syphilis, the kind of evidence paleopathologists can look for.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skull_damage_from_neurosyphilis.jpg">Canley/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In St. Polten, Austria, a medieval cemetery holds the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2015/0504">remains of a child</a> age 6 with deformed teeth consistent with a diagnosis of treponematosis, perhaps a case of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-congenital-syphilis.htm">congenital syphilis</a>, when the <em>Treponema pallidum</em> bacteria are passed from mother to child during pregnancy or birth.</p>
<p>In Anatolia in western Turkey, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.802">skeleton of a teenager</a> revealed not only the same deformed incisors as in St. Polten, but also damage to the entire skeleton below the head. Involvement of both teeth and bones in the same specimen, and especially the large number of bones affected in this case, points to syphilis. The victim died in the 13th century – a couple hundred years before Columbus set sail. </p>
<p>And so it goes. While the absolute number of cases is not large, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22630">they keep turning up</a>. Some of the evidence appears in the remains of people who <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/origine-de-la-syphilis-en-europe-avant-ou-apres-1493-actes-du-colloque-international-de-toulon-25-28-novembre-1993/oclc/884173338&referer=brief_results">lived more than 2,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>There is an outstanding issue, however. Damaged bones and teeth seem to hold proof of pre-Columbian syphilis, but there is a possibility that they point to another form of the disease instead. <em>Treponema pallidum</em> appears in several strains. The subspecies that causes syphilis is the deadliest. But two other subspecies of the bacteria cause less serious, if still painful and unsightly, diseases called <a href="https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/bejel/">bejel</a> (also known as endemic syphilis) and <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yaws">yaws</a> that are <a href="https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/infections/bacterial-infections-spirochetes/bejel-yaws-and-pinta">not usually transmitted sexually</a>. Nowadays all three can be treated with antibiotics.</p>
<p>How then, to distinguish between the three subspecies and prove that the venereal form had existed in Europe all along?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="detail of medieval painting of Jesus in crown of thorns amid crowd" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473707/original/file-20220712-13-it6ehd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In an early 15th-century painting, a discerning historian’s eye sees two soldiers (one in yellow, one behind red plume) with facial features indicative of advanced syphilis leading Christ to his crucifixion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Master_of_the_Karlsruhe_Passion_-_Disrobing_of_Christ.jpeg">The Disrobing of Christ from the Karlsruhe Passion (detail), c.1440. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Strasbourg</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Writers and artists recorded other evidence</h2>
<p>Documentary and artistic evidence can help settle the issue. Of all the pathogens known to humanity, only treponemes produce <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archderm.1970.04000070080012">such widely divergent outcomes based on climate and culture</a>, an important clue for finding evidence in manuscripts.</p>
<p>This fact explains my theory that medieval elites suffered more severely from treponematosis than peasants. Their wealthy lifestyle would have protected them from childhood infections their social inferiors picked up in their crowded and unsanitary households. But those childhood sicknesses would have had the benefit of triggering some future immunity in the peasantry.</p>
<p>If members of the elite reached sexual maturity without having had milder infections while growing up, they would be highly susceptible to contracting the disease for the first time during intercourse. A sore on the genitalia contains a massive dose of infectious bacteria compared with the small doses found on the shared clothing or bedding of the peasantry. Peasants who suffered a recurrence of the disease as adults could likely fend it off successfully because of their prior immunity. I contend this was not true for elites who then suffered more devastating illnesses.</p>
<p>In addition to dying young themselves, infected elites risked giving their children congenital syphilis, which often proved fatal to the next generation. Elites and their children died in such high numbers that some noble families <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-crisis-of-the-aristocracy-1558-to-1641-9780198213147">had trouble maintaining their bloodlines</a>, a point noted long ago without making a potential connection to syphilis.</p>
<p>One royal who <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/842358">I believe almost certainly died of syphilis</a> was king Edward IV of England (1442-83). One of his councilors wrote that he died of an illness difficult to cure even in a person of lesser status, a cryptic comment not previously understood by historians. But his statement perfectly fits the difference between venereal and endemic syphilis, evidence that suggests both diseases existed in 15th-century England. The <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300073720/edward-iv/">king’s symptoms and reputation for sexual promiscuity</a> help confirm my diagnosis.</p>
<p>Evidence for the presence of syphilis in the Old World also comes from art.</p>
<p>Doctors know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archderm.1970.04000070080012">syphilis can result in</a> “<a href="https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=17626">saddle nose</a>,” in which spirochetes invade a patient’s nose and cause it to collapse in a distinctive way. Medieval artists from as early as the 12th century depicted this deformity in their work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Side view of man with a collapsed nose, paired with medieval painting of Jesus and a persecutor" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473690/original/file-20220712-9214-kddbhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a medieval painting, one of Christ’s tormentors has facial features reminiscent of a syphilis patient’s saddle nose.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=yates_thompson_ms_13_fs001r">L: British Journal of Plastic Surgery, Vol. 10, McLaren + Penney, The reconstruction of the syphilitic saddle nose: A review of seven cases, Pages 236-252, Copyright 1957–1958. R: The Taymouth Hours, England, mid-14th century. British Library, MS Yates Thompson 13, fol. 120v.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I believe they intended to show venereal and not endemic disease because they use saddle nose in depictions of sinful figures, including the men who tortured Christ or killed babies on the orders of King Herod.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front view of man with a collapsed nose, paired with drawing of a monster with a snub-nosed face on a pair of legs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473692/original/file-20220712-31783-6pl4a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A gryllus displaying the saddle nose deformity in a drawing from the early 1300s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_17_fs001r">L: British Journal of Plastic Surgery, Vol. 10, McLaren + Penney, The reconstruction of the syphilitic saddle nose: A review of seven cases, Pages 236-252, Copyright 1957–1958. R: The Maastricht Hours, Liège, early 14th century. British Library, MS Stowe 17, fol. 151r.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even the silly gryllus, a medieval monster with a face and legs but no body, was a symbol of human depravity.</p>
<p>Examples abound. Historians have ignored good evidence – as plain as the nose on your face, so to speak – because they believed in the Columbian exchange. Regarding syphilis, however, that intellectual framework now appears outdated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marylynn Salmon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea that Europeans brought new diseases to the Americas and returned home with others has been widely accepted. But evidence is mounting that for syphilis this scenario is wrong.Marylynn Salmon, Research Associate in History, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508192020-12-11T16:49:55Z2020-12-11T16:49:55ZMasks and mandates: How individual rights and government regulation are both necessary for a free society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373708/original/file-20201208-23-t491lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C25%2C4130%2C2502&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents line up in their cars in late November at a food distribution site in Clermont, Florida, where many are hungry because of the pandemic. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/volunteers-direct-traffic-as-residents-line-up-in-their-news-photo/1229725644?adppopup=true">Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve been thinking a lot, recently, about the tension between demanding “individual rights” – in the sense of deciding whether or not to wear a mask – and calling for more action on the part of our government to protect us from the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martha-ackelsberg-519759">I’m a political theorist</a>, which means I study how communities are organized, how power is exercised and how people relate to one another in and between communities. I’ve realized – through talking to friends, and thinking about the protests against COVID-19-related restrictions that have taken place around the country – that many people do not understand that individual rights and state power are not really opposites. </p>
<p>The laws and policies that governments enact set the framework for the exercise of our rights. So, inaction on the part of government does not necessarily empower citizens. It can, effectively, take away our power, leaving us less able to act to address our needs.</p>
<h2>‘War of all against all’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript">The Founders stated in the Declaration of Independence</a> that “governments are instituted among Men … to secure their rights … to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” </p>
<p>Those goals cannot be pursued individually without governments to help create the conditions necessary for collective life. As Thomas Hobbes recognized almost four centuries ago, if everyone just does what they please, no one can trust anyone. We end up with chaos, uncertainty and a “<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/">war of all against all</a>.” </p>
<p>Rights become worthless.</p>
<p>This paradox – of the need for government to enable the effective pursuit of individual aims – is particularly extreme in the situation of COVID-19 and its attendant economic crisis. Amid a rampaging pandemic, people have rights to do many things, but are they really free to exercise them? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bus in West Reading, PA, with the message 'No Masks No Ride' displayed on its digital sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373709/original/file-20201208-15-12vsgsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bus reminds people ‘No Masks No Ride’ in September 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bus-with-the-message-no-masks-no-ride-displayed-on-its-news-photo/1272483926?adppopup=true">Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may not feel like you can enjoy the benefits of your individual rights when you have to be engaged in a continuous process of risk-assessment: Is it safe to leave my house? To go to work? To send my child to school? To visit my loved ones?</p>
<p>Even more, people confront those questions from very different perspectives: <a href="https://www.thenationshealth.org/content/50/6/1.1">“Essential” workers</a> have had to make decisions about whether to go to work and risk disease or death, or to stay home to protect themselves and their families and risk hunger and homelessness. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2024046">Those who are unsafe in their homes</a>, because they live with <a href="https://theconversation.com/intimate-partner-violence-has-increased-during-pandemic-emerging-evidence-suggests-148326">abusive parents or partners</a> must choose between the danger of staying in and the dangers of leaving. Even those who work remotely <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-whats-safe-to-do-in-the-new-normal">make an assessment of risk every time they leave home</a>, especially now that infections have surged, given the absence of clear, shared norms about social distancing, mask-wearing and other precautions against the spread of disease.</p>
<h2>Collective framework</h2>
<p>Each person experiences these as personal choices, however, because federal and state governments have <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/state-data-and-policy-actions-to-address-coronavirus/">failed to provide a truly collective framework</a> within which people can be safer. </p>
<p>People may know, for example, that if everyone wore a mask in the presence of others, maintained social distance and avoided large crowds, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/need-to-know.html">it would be relatively safe</a> to be out in public. But that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2006740">goal cannot be achieved by voluntary individual actions alone</a>, since the benefits are achieved only when most or all of us participate. </p>
<p>The only way to assure that everyone will be wearing a mask — understood as an act of community and collective care, an action taken to protect others, as well as ourselves — is for the government to require mask-wearing because it is needed for the protection of life. </p>
<p>It’s well accepted that governments can <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/minimum-car-insurance-requirements">mandate that drivers must have insurance</a> if they are to be allowed to register and drive a car, or that <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/immunizations-policy-issues-overview.aspx">all children be vaccinated before they can attend school</a>. These requirements are justified out of the recognition that our individual actions (or inactions) affect others as well as ourselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Maine Independent Sen. Angus King sets up a sign describing a bipartisan proposal for a Covid-19 relief bill on Capitol Hill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373711/original/file-20201208-14-1qe7i2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maine Independent Sen. Angus King sets up a sign describing a bipartisan proposal for a COVID-19 relief bill on Capitol Hill on December 1, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-angus-king-sets-up-a-sign-alongside-a-bipartisan-group-news-photo/1288861346?adppopup=true">Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course — and here is where questions about individual rights come up against the need for government policy — in the absence of government economic support for individuals and families, for example, <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/from-our-experts/the-unequal-cost-of-social-distancing">the costs of actions taken to protect others fall unequally</a>. </p>
<p>If businesses close to slow the spread of disease, they protect both workers and consumers. But without government aid, they and their workers are the ones who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/12/small-business-used-define-americas-economy-pandemic-could-end-that-forever/">bear the financial burdens of these actions</a> as individuals.</p>
<h2>Interdependence and mutual responsibility</h2>
<p>That is why <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-trillion-coronavirus-aid-package">the CARES Act</a>, which provided income for those who lost jobs and loans or grants to those who kept their workers on payroll, was critical. </p>
<p>It was government policy that recognized that collective caring behavior cannot be sustained without communal support. The CARES Act articulated, through a series of government programs, the idea that no one should be forced to be a martyr — say, to lose their livelihood — for the benefit of others.</p>
<p>Government policy of this sort (such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/12/11/945339594/discussions-drag-on-for-another-coronavirus-relief-bill">the relief bills now being considered by Congress</a>) aims to ensure that those who forego work to protect others — or go to work to protect others, like essential workers — will not have to pay a personal price. </p>
<p>The ability to exercise the rights to work, to shop or to go to school depends upon having a relatively safe public space in which to operate. In turn, that requires all of us to attend to the rights and safety of others, as well as of ourselves. </p>
<p>Government is the means by which such attending — caring — is expressed and accomplished. It is only when people can count on others to be concerned for one another that they can truly be free to act, and exercise their rights, in the public arena.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150819/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I am not now receiving any funding; but I have, in the past, held a National Defense Education Act fellowship for graduate study, and research fellowships from Smith College, the American Association of University Women, the Mellon Foundation, the Danforth Foundation. I have also served on review panels for the National Science Foundation (for which I receive a small stipend).</span></em></p>The absence of effective government policy doesn’t make citizens free. It takes away their power, leaving them less able to act to address their needs. That’s especially clear during the pandemic.Martha Ackelsberg, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government, emerita, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/933502018-03-15T01:58:10Z2018-03-15T01:58:10ZHaspel is Trump’s chance to reset his bad start with the CIA<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210804/original/file-20180316-104676-1sqeh0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gina Haspel addresses The Office of Strategic Services Society in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2s9qTUNsM&t=57s">OSS Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The CIA had a tough first year under President Donald Trump. </p>
<p>It started with the president making a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trumps-vainglorious-affront-to-the-c-i-a">brashly political speech in front of the agency’s Memorial Wall</a>, which is hallowed ground to CIA officers. This was soon after Trump seemed to <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/819164172781060096?lang=en">compare U.S. intelligence agencies to Nazis</a>. More recently, Trump has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/donald-trump-pursues-vladimir-putin-russian-election-hacking/?utm_term=.3fa1d7011b75">publicly challenged intelligence assessments</a> about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Republican leaders of the House intelligence committee have also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/house-republicans-russia-conclusions/index.html">undermined the CIA</a> by echoing the president’s criticisms. Even Republican Rep. Tom Rooney has said the committee has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/house-intel-rep-tom-rooney-russia-investigation-erin-burnett-outfront-cnntv/index.html">“lost all credibility”</a> due to its Russia investigation. </p>
<p>The president needs a CIA he can trust. The CIA, for its part, needs to feel its work is heard and respected by leaders committed to protecting American security. Although the president seemingly valued the contribution of Mike Pompeo as CIA director, that respect wasn’t reflected in the president’s attitude toward the agency as a whole. Until this relationship is repaired, the country will face unnecessary risks – and not only from Vladimir Putin and his cyber trolls. </p>
<p>So how can Haspel gain the president’s trust, while staying true to the CIA mission?</p>
<h2>A history of unease</h2>
<p>Trump is not the first president to be suspicious of the CIA. My <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cia-and-the-politics-of-us-intelligence-reform/FDDB47B0D88F3F1FE128DB23964C9061">new book on U.S. intelligence reform</a> describes the often uncomfortable relationship between presidents and the agency. </p>
<p>President Richard Nixon thought the CIA was filled with <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vAAtDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA108&ots=xPKD5S6K4H&dq=nixon%20and%20the%20cia%20durbin&pg=PA108#v=onepage&q=nixon%20and%20the%20cia%20durbin&f=false">“Ivy League liberals” who had helped John F. Kennedy</a> defeat him in 1960, and who were trying to undermine his administration’s policies from Moscow to Vietnam. </p>
<p>Bill Clinton campaigned on <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vAAtDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA108&ots=xPKD5S6K4H&dq=nixon%20and%20the%20cia%20durbin&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q=clinton%20campaign&f=false">deep cuts to the intelligence budget</a>. His first director of the CIA, James Woolsey, was left out of major decisions – so much so that when a deranged pilot flew a small plane into the White House, people joked that it was <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/r-james-woolsey-oral-history-director-central">Woolsey trying to get a meeting with the president</a>.</p>
<p>Bad relations between a president and the CIA can have disastrous effects. Members of the George W. Bush administration believed the agency’s views on Iraq were too rosy, so they <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iraq/2006-03-01/intelligence-policy-and-war-iraq">pushed for more aggressive analysis and bypassed the agency</a> to justify going to war. The Iraq War resulted in <a href="http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx">thousands of U.S. battlefield deaths</a>, <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131015-iraq-war-deaths-survey-2013/">hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths</a>, and close to <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-military-spending-cost-wars">$2 trillion in direct U.S. spending</a> on the war. </p>
<p>If the president wants to benefit from the best information about the most important challenges facing America, he needs to believe the CIA is doing its job well. That trust starts at the top.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210410/original/file-20180314-113482-1srr18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump speaks at the CIA on Jan. 21, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trump’s announced nominee to succeed Pompeo is a promising choice, though a controversial one. <a href="http://time.com/5198054/gina-haspel-cia-torture-senate/">Gina Haspel</a> is a decorated agency veteran, and would be the first woman to head the CIA. At least symbolically, her appointment helps address <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02684527.2014.913395?journalCode=fint20">the historical imbalance of female representation at the agency</a>. CIA insiders also <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-gina-haspel-cia-director-seasoned-spymaster-2018-03-13/">seem to respect her</a>. </p>
<p>Yet Haspel’s selection has raised concerns among many – including key Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee – regarding <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-nominates-gina-haspel-to-head-cia-an-agency-veteran-tied-to-use-of-brutal-interrogation-measures/2018/03/13/bd47c8ce-26c6-11e8-874b-d517e912f125_story.html">her role in approving the torture of detainees</a> during the Bush years. She is even purported to have been at the heart of “<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22474868/ns/politics/t/mukasey-criminal-inquiry-begins-cia-tapes/#.Wqhj5OjwauU">tapegate</a>,” when videotapes showing prisoner torture were illegally destroyed at the agency. </p>
<p>Critics are right to condemn this history. Even though Haspel is likely be confirmed, she must work to restore confidence that she will follow the law and resist political influence. If she can do this, she will be well positioned to start rebuilding relations between the CIA and senior policymakers in both the White House and Congress.</p>
<h2>Haspel’s challenge</h2>
<p>Successful leadership is only one piece of the intelligence puzzle. For a more effective CIA, three things must happen.</p>
<p>First, the White House must stop challenging the professionalism of intelligence officers. Morale matters. While much of the CIA’s mission is defined by world events, it also tries to foresee and support the priorities of the president. If it’s not able or motivated to do this, America is more likely to blunder into foreign mistakes, including war.</p>
<p>Second, the congressional oversight committees must <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/us/politics/house-intelligence-committee-russia-nunes.html">stop bickering</a> and return to the bipartisan cooperation that was the norm for most of their 40-year history. This will be hard – these are not bipartisan times. But without effective oversight, the intelligence community can become either irrelevant or irresponsible in how it conducts its duties.</p>
<p>Finally, the CIA director cannot simply tell the president what he wants to hear. This is where Haspel’s career is important. After serving in several senior positions at the agency, her commitment to the CIA culture of speaking truth to power will be critical to her success. And if she and the CIA don’t have the respect and trust of the people making life-or-death decisions about national security, America – and the world – will face an even more uncertain future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brent Durbin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new head could help repair the president’s relationship with the spy agency, but only if leaders stop playing politics with intelligence.Brent Durbin, Associate Professor of Government, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/571722016-04-07T09:50:54Z2016-04-07T09:50:54ZWe need a national conversation about sensible drone laws<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117545/original/image-20160405-29002-3m8xsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking off in a yard near you?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Package_copter_microdrones_dhl.jpg">Frankhöffner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Not long ago, most Americans could safely ignore congressional deliberations about Federal Aviation Administration authority, leaving the details to industry experts and lobbyists. But this time, we may need to fasten our seatbelts and actually read the card in the seat pocket. </p>
<p>A bill under discussion this week in <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2658/text">Congress</a>, an otherwise routine reauthorization of federal spending on the FAA, also sets the stage for the widespread use of unmanned aircraft systems (aka drones) at very low altitudes across the United States. This legislation could affect privacy, property, local control and even America’s position as a leader in innovation.</p>
<p>Federal authorities have, since the passage of the <a href="http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/books-online/aircommerceact1926.pdf">Air Commerce Act of 1926</a>, controlled the navigable airspace starting hundreds of feet above us. But the lowermost airspace – our backyards, neighborhoods, business properties and campuses – has <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674030824">historically</a> been the domain of the <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/328/256.html">landowner</a> and local governments. </p>
<p>The promise of lucrative new drone technologies appears to be upending this tradition.</p>
<h2>Industry eyes lower-level airspace</h2>
<p>Aviation industry proponents view the quiet space just above our homes as the next frontier in commercial aviation, a “<a href="http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/01/04/nasa-drone-highways">public highway</a>” for <a href="http://www.auvsi.org/auvsiresources/economicreport">a multi-billion-dollar industry</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Suggesting that drones could fly in an “unobstructed highway” not far above the trees and power lines, robotics innovator Helen Greiner <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/08/helen-greiner-roomba-co-inventor-drone-industry">told <em>The Guardian</em></a>, “You can solve a mobility problem easier because they don’t have to deal with all that stuff on the ground. It’s almost like you are cheating.”</li>
<li><a href="https://3dr.com/skyward-announces-first-commercial-drone-network-demonstration/">SkyWard</a>, a company building traffic management systems for unmanned aircraft, proclaims on its website that “The airspace is a great place to build a new highway.”</li>
<li>David Vos, the leader for Google’s Project Wing drone-delivery service, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-drones-alphabet-idUSKCN0SR20520151103">said</a>, “Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017.”</li>
</ul>
<p>The FAA reauthorization now before Congress would lay the legal foundation for this. A section of the law would take federal control of all airspace, preempting state and local regulation of all aspects of unmanned aircraft flight, “including airspace, altitude, flight paths … [and] purpose of operations.” It might seem an innocuous clarification. </p>
<p>However, the FAA has recently started <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/204615520/FAA-FOIA-Response-2-4-14#page=5">asserting</a> that “Private landowners do not have any jurisdiction over the airspace above their property and cannot prohibit or allow aviation operations over their land” at any altitude, “<a href="https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=76240">from the ground up</a>.” These “<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/regulations/2120-AJ60/operation-and-certification-of-small-unmanned-aircraft-systems-suas-">aviation operations</a>” include Frisbee-sized drones and even toys. </p>
<p>These statements suggest the FAA intends to regulate drone flights much more tightly than it has handled model airplane and other low-altitude, lightweight aircraft flights in the past.</p>
<h2>Tightening restrictions?</h2>
<p><a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-faa-thinks-it-can-regulate-paper-planes-and-baseballs">Recent enforcement actions</a> are raising concerns:</p>
<ul>
<li>A federal administrative judge admonished the FAA for <a href="http://www.ntsb.gov/legal/alj/Documents/Pirker-CP-217.pdf#page=3">making</a> “the risible argument that a flight in the air of, e.g., a paper aircraft, or a toy balsa wood glider, could subject the ‘operator’” to FAA oversight. </li>
<li>In South Dakota, an FAA investigator <a href="http://www.today.com/news/feds-crack-down-shoot-drone-gatherings-target-practices-1D80069182">showed up at rural gun club</a> and ordered members to stop using home-built model airplanes for target practice like modern-day clay pigeons because they were flying drones as part of a business.</li>
<li>A man in California was <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/19/man-jailed-beach-drone-confrontation/">briefly arrested</a> by local authorities for using a T-shirt to down a drone that was hovering close by.</li>
</ul>
<p>The federal penalty for “destruction of an aircraft,” <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/22/faa-responds-to-colorado-towns-drone-hunting-plans/">apparently even a small unmanned one</a>, is up to 20 years in prison.</p>
<h2>Moving to protect research and innovation</h2>
<p>Our nation’s colleges and universities have been hit particularly hard by these growing restrictions. U.S. researchers face severe limits on putting anything in the air, even a few feet above the ground on university property.</p>
<p>Getting permission to fly for scholarly purposes involves lots of paperwork and usually requires researchers to use specific commercial drones operated by a licensed pilot. With restrictions like that, is not surprising that <a href="http://www.aeriographer.com/surprise-dji-dominates-the-faas-list-of-exemptions-for-commercial-drone-use/">70 percent of the unmanned aircraft that the FAA has approved</a> for commercial use are engineered and manufactured in China.</p>
<p>To address this concern, U.S. senators Gary Peters (a Michigan Democrat) and Jerry Moran (a Kansas Republican) recently introduced the <a href="http://www.peters.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/peters-moran-introduce-legislation-to-support-educational-use-of-unmanned-aircraft-systems">Higher Education UAS Modernization Act</a>. Backed by nearly 30 U.S. universities and three higher-education associations, it would allow researchers to fly drones at low altitudes for research and educational purposes, while preventing academics from using drones to “survey, create a nuisance on, or overfly private property without the permission of the owner of the private property.”</p>
<p>In other words, if the bill passes – as it should – university drones will be free to educate our students and support cutting-edge research in fields as diverse as aeronautical engineering, archaeology and agriculture. But they won’t invade your backyard, photograph you on your patio, or disrupt your quiet afternoon.</p>
<p>This is a good first step. But we also need a broader national discussion about how commercial and recreational drones should operate near the ground – in the space where we live, work and play – while respecting landowners and maintaining a sensible balance between federal, state and local control.</p>
<p>These issues are simply too important to leave up in the air.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Voss is an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Smith College is one of the 30 colleges and universities endorsing the Higher Education UAS Modernization Act. Voss offered some comments on a draft of the bill.</span></em></p>A bill before Congress could pave the way for the opening of our backyards, neighborhoods, business properties and campuses to commercial drone traffic.Paul Voss, Associate Professor of Engineering, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426502015-06-19T10:18:28Z2015-06-19T10:18:28ZMathematics, spaghetti alla carbonara and you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85419/original/image-20150617-23252-u7p46p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What does the contents of this bowl have in common with math?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/clipp2nd/8023591161">Clipp2nd</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve come to believe that mathematics, as an investigative science, as a practical discipline and as a creative art, shares many characteristics with cookery. It’s not just spaghetti alla carbonara, it’s the whole business of inventing dishes and preparing them. It’s an analogy with many parts, and it has consequences.</p>
<p>To introduce myself: I’m a professional mathematician, an amateur cook and an enthusiastic eater. The ideas in this essay are distilled from years of formal reasoning, mad culinary experiments and adventurous meals. In short, I’ve found that:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I do mathematics for much the same reasons that I cook.</p></li>
<li><p>I use the same problem-solving methods in math and cooking.</p></li>
<li><p>I judge dishes and math papers with many of the same criteria.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Together these observations suggest a picture of mathematics (or a picture of cooking) quite different from the popular view. The analogy is fun and the payoff is liberating.</p>
<h2>My reasons</h2>
<p>I am motivated in both fields by curiosity and by thrills. I grew up reading <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/flexagon-but-not-forgotten/">Martin Gardner</a>’s <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/editorial/martin-gardner-centennial/">Mathematical Games</a> column in Scientific American. It’s hard to describe how exciting these were. I read about logical paradoxes, about <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.43.1.002">hexaflexagons</a>, about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rep-tile">rep-tiles</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=orz0SDEakpYC&pg=PA485&lpg=PA485&dq=martin+gardner+sprouts&source=bl&ots=wJNIkTu8t2&sig=rg2KyV8QZe-PNVWlj183yrNOhtA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Gs6BVcGQNYGs-QHXp4Ng&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=martin%20gardner%20sprouts&f=false">Sprouts</a>, and <a href="http://www.prometheusbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=814">Dr Matrix</a>. I folded flexagons, I analyzed Sprouts, I teased classmates with paradoxes. It was thrilling.</p>
<p>At the same time I experienced thrills of a different sort. I remember keenly the first time my mother made apple pie. I remember the time my father grilled tuna steak. I remember the first time I tasted a whiskey sour. In all, these experiences made me what I am today: a seeker of thrills, a mathematical and gustatory glutton.</p>
<p>I also play with food and mess with math to satisfy an insistent curiosity.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85433/original/image-20150617-23239-h6hlva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where will I bounce?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Henle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What happens if I combine Chartreuse and avocado?</p>
<p>Where will I end up if I start in one corner of this figure and start bouncing off the sides?</p>
<p>What vegetables can I caramelize?</p>
<p>How much of the infinite plane can I cover with different-sized squares?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85434/original/image-20150617-23223-fnpo7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Squares and squares and squares on an infinite plane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Henle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Problem-solving</h2>
<p>Many books have been written about mathematical problem-solving. And many, many books have been written about cooking. But there is one single principle that is fundamental to both disciplines. It may be the only essential principle of problem-solving:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Make mistakes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Make mistakes and learn from them. It’s the go-to method in both fields.</p>
<p>It’s hard teaching this to students. They believe that mathematicians figure things out first and then act. But mathematicians don’t. We jump in and mess up. It’s the best way to see what’s going on.</p>
<p>Suppose you are asked to find a number such that tripling the number is the same as adding 12. If you know algebra, you write</p>
<p>3 x n = n + 12</p>
<p>and solve for n. But let’s say you don’t know algebra. So you jump in. You guess 10. Does that work? Tripling 10 gets you 30, but adding 12 gets you 22.</p>
<p>3 x 10 = 30 10 + 12 = 22</p>
<p>30 doesn’t equal 22. Let’s try again. Guess 12 (after all, that’s a number in the problem). But tripling 12 gets you 36 and adding 12 gets you 24.</p>
<p>3 x 12 = 36 12 + 12 = 24</p>
<p>So 12 is worse! Let’s move in the other direction. Guess 8. Tripling 8 gets you 24. Adding 12 gets you 20.</p>
<p>3 x 8 = 24 8 + 12 = 20</p>
<p>Closer! Maybe your next guess is 6. And if it is, you solved the problem.</p>
<p>3 x 6 = 18 6 + 12 = 18</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85426/original/image-20150617-23256-1qjm627.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knead that dough.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/reana/12577820203">TIA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leaping into the unknown is also the best way to learn to cook. Home cooks are often reluctant to try baking bread. They believe you have to know what you’re doing before you start putting ingredients in a bowl. But that belief can prevent you from ever baking your first loaf.</p>
<p>I don’t claim, by the way, that making mistakes is easy. It takes guts (sometimes). It also takes perseverance and hard work. But it doesn’t take a “math brain.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85417/original/image-20150617-23217-13h32qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can judge a dish or a math problem on its aesthetics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_j_b/513092634">Chris Baird</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Aesthetics</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85438/original/image-20150617-23223-19kfojp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Simple lines work in a food and in math.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Henle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some dishes are wonderful for their simplicity, for their simple, clean taste. Cheesecake, for example.</p>
<p>In the same way, a mathematical object can be attractive because it has a clean, simple structure.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85422/original/image-20150617-23232-lcc1lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fiery flavors?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wespeck/4084992018">Wes Peck</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the other hand, some foods are celebrated for the complexity of their taste. Wine, for example.</p>
<p>In the same way, a mathematical structure can be alluring for its mystery and depth.</p>
<p>“Simplicity” and “complexity” are just two aesthetics that math and gastronomy share. Some others are “elegance,” “playfulness” and “novelty.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85439/original/image-20150617-23226-97ygny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Complexity has appeal in cooking and math.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Henle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>You can do it</h2>
<p>You have the analogy now: a moderately strong similarity between mathematics and cooking. What does that similarity suggest?</p>
<p>Well first of all, I’ve argued that the key to success in math is to make mistakes. Accepting this principle pushes you to accept a really powerful idea. If making mistakes is the key, then everyone can cook. And everyone can do mathematics.</p>
<p>Second, the similarity points out that mathematics has aesthetics. Mathematicians believe this. You should too. You can pick winners (I like that math) and losers (that stuff bores me). That’s what we do. I love logic and geometry. Don’t ask me about statistics.</p>
<p>Most students intuitively get this about history, about literature, about science. But mathematics appears different to them. Math, they fear, is the judge. Math, they think, either likes you or it doesn’t like you.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85424/original/image-20150617-23223-tg92kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Send it back to the kitchen if it doesn’t suit you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/4149857219">US Army Africa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if you don’t like the food a restaurant serves you, you go somewhere else, right?</p>
<p>Now students today do go somewhere else. But many do it because they feel they have no choice; math doesn’t like them. Forget that! Math doesn’t play favorites. If you dump math, it should be because in your judgment, math is not attractive.</p>
<p>The third consequence follows from the first two, and it’s the best of all. If students work hard, if they make mistakes, if they persevere, they will succeed in mathematics. But if students find mathematics unlovable, they won’t stick with it.</p>
<p>The most important goal of any mathematics course is not that the students learn – that’s secondary. The real goal is simple: help the students love mathematics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Henle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mathematics and cooking can both be about problem solving, excitement, aesthetics. And it’s for you to decide for yourself what you like and don’t like in both realms.Jim Henle, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/344702014-11-21T10:26:55Z2014-11-21T10:26:55ZBreaking down Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million deal: could the first billion dollar contract happen sooner than we think?<p>In baseball history, nine players have signed guaranteed contracts worth over $200 million. Five of those contracts have been for ten years. Two of the five belong to Alex Rodriguez; the others include those for sluggers Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, and Albert Pujols. </p>
<p>Only one player has signed for more than ten years and for more than $300 million: Giancarlo Stanton, the 25-year-old outfielder for the Miami Marlins who inked a $325 million, 13-year deal earlier this week. </p>
<p>With the first professional athlete cracking the $300 million barrier, some are asking: when will we see the first $1 billion contract? Let’s use some simple math. Back in 1980 Dave Winfield signed baseball’s first ten-year deal, for a total of $25 million. Using that as a base – and comparing it to Stanton’s deal, which begins in 2015 – baseball’s mega-contracts have been growing at an annual rate of 7.6 percent over the last 35 years. If they continue to grow at this rate, the first $1 billion deal will come in 2031.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65135/original/image-20141120-4472-7piyzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">in 1980, Dave Winfield signed baseball’s first ten year contract (for a total value of $25 million). Since then, the value of mega-deals has risen at an annual rate of 7.6 percent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Illustrated-January-Winfield-Cover/dp/B002T1DVR2">Amazon.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before you take that prediction to the bank, there are some caveats. For one, Stanton’s contract is heavily backloaded. Next season he will be paid a “pauper’s wage” of $6.5 million, followed by $9 million and $14.5 million over the two ensuing years. It is not until year seven that his annual average salary exceeds $31 million. This, of course, makes the contract more palatable to Marlins’ owner Jeff Loria (in the short term, at least), leaving him with more cash to surround Stanton with a group of winning players.</p>
<p>Jeff Loria has been excoriated in the Miami press for gutting his team the year after his new stadium was built and for perennially carrying one of baseball’s lowest payrolls; the embattled owner needed to redeem himself in the eyes of the Marlins’ fan base. So, in addition to buying himself a mighty fine slugger (though arguably not at the level of A-Rod, Cabrera, Cano and Pujols when they signed their mega-deals), Mr. Loria also purchased a modicum of legitimacy among his prospective consumers.</p>
<p>He also won’t be paying nearly as much – in present value – as $325 million would indicate. </p>
<p>Present value adjusts for the fact that, due to inflation and time preference, one would rather have a million dollars today than a million dollars ten years from now. Because Stanton’s remuneration starts so low and ends so high, the $325 million figure being advertised is somewhat of a mirage.</p>
<p>If we use a discount rate of five percent, the present value of the 13 years of payments due Stanton is around $220 million. At a discount rate of three percent, the present value rises to $256 million – still far below the widely publicized $325 million.</p>
<p>Although the diminished present value sums and the need for Loria to hit the PR reset button may seem to make the contract more manageable and understandable, we can rest assured that both the gross value of the contract and its length are nonetheless alarming to other team owners.</p>
<p>Consider, for instance, the fact that MLB is the only team sports league in the United States without a limit on the length of guaranteed player contracts. The NHL limit is eight years. The NBA limit is five years. The NFL does not have guaranteed long-term contracts.</p>
<p>Consider, too, that the average baseball player hits peak performance at between 29 and 30 years of age, that injuries become more commonplace as a player moves through his thirties, and that most players do not reach free agency until their late twenties or early thirties. A-Rod will be 43 when his contract ends, Pujols will be 42, Cabrera 41 and Cano 41 (another consolation for Mr. Loria is that Stanton, at 37 years old, will be a spring chicken during the last year of his deal). There isn’t a living baseball analyst who thinks that A-Rod’s contract isn’t an albatross for the Yankees. Time will tell how Pujols, Cabrera and Cano are viewed as they enter their late thirties.</p>
<p>So, it may not be far-fetched to assume that during the negotiations for MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement (which will occur prior to the 2017 season), owners will push for a contract limit provision. If this contract length limit is, say, seven years, then in order for there to be a contract whose gross value is $325 million, the annual average salary would have to be $46.4 million – or, 86 percent above Stanton’s current level. At 7.6 percent growth per year, that will delay the first billion dollar deal until 2039. </p>
<p>There’s one more consideration to make. Baseball, like football, basketball and hockey, devotes approximately 50 percent of its revenues to player salaries. Thus, for player salaries to grow at 7.6 percent per year, league revenues also would have to grow at this rate. </p>
<p>Only a few straightforward questions remain. What will be the U.S. rate of inflation over the next 25 years? What will be the delivery mechanism for streamed baseball games (which could have a huge impact on revenues)? How many times will we witness a government shutdown?</p>
<p>Ahem, yes, 2039. Or maybe not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Zimbalist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In baseball history, nine players have signed guaranteed contracts worth over $200 million. Five of those contracts have been for ten years. Two of the five belong to Alex Rodriguez; the others include…Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/342712014-11-19T09:21:13Z2014-11-19T09:21:13ZA-Rod may get his millions but his future remains murky<p>Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees’ erstwhile third baseman, has had an interesting career in more ways than one. His use of steroids has resulted in a sullied reputation and a one-year suspension without pay, but now he is potentially back on the active player roster for the 2015 season and poised to receive US$61 million from the Yankees over the next three years. </p>
<p>How can a player who twice admitted to using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) for several years and who repeatedly lied about his use, be allowed to return to the game? After all, the league has the option to punish him with as much as a lifetime ban if it deems his actions damaged baseball’s image. And the Yankees have their own means at their disposal to try to penalize him if they so choose. </p>
<p>The answer, however, is complicated by ironclad contracts and the nature of PEDs, and benefits from a look back at how we got here, along with his tale’s many twists and turns.</p>
<h2>A-Rod confesses, kind of</h2>
<p>It all began in December 2007, when George Mitchell’s <a href="http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf">report on steroid use</a> in Major League Baseball came out. The next day, Rodriguez told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he had never used steroids. Fourteen months later Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for steroid use under MLB’s anonymous testing program in 2003. Ten days after SI’s report, Rodriguez confessed to using steroids in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but asserted that he hadn’t used them since.</p>
<p>Following various reports connecting Rodriguez to PEDs after 2003, in January of last year Rodriguez was <a href="http://www.miaminewtimes.com/specialReports/tony-bosch-and-biogenesis-mlb-steroid-scandal-3698782/">linked</a> to Tony Bosch and his Biogenesis Clinic in Miami – an infamous source of PEDs for various professional athletes. In August, MLB suspended Rodriguez through the end of the 2014 season for violating the league’s PED policy, a total of 211 regular-season games plus any postseason games. He was one of 13 players suspended for their roles in the scandal. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64905/original/xxqsrx5h-1416343617.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alex Rodriguez was considered one of the Yankees’ top stars until he was suspended for using banned substances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/3514039239/in/photolist-6mwnrr-6UDaJ3-4RRTcU-4RMHm2-5fGfU1-5fXjP3-9B8xc1-6mwibi-4wj5N5-6mwo5i-6UtuDr-5fBUf6-6UAouS-4RaVNT-4GGDY9-4Rf8KJ-6UwzKH-5fYi1E-4GH9Pq-4weTKx-6mAsYU-6mAti7-6mwkf4-6mAt1W-4wcHK5-6mAt7b-4wcNRS-4w8yNZ-4weUPi-4GCfyT-66VDmv-fNzML9-4wcNj7-4w8FZ6-4w8Bnz-4wcNFy-4wcJ81-6mAr9C-6mAqQs-6mwhQt-6mAr6y-6n1q2k-6mAv7m-fQtGBw-fPwCy4-6mwkkH-6Utxkp-6n1pWr-6UwQHP-6mAuY1">Keith Allison/Flickr via CC BY-SA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the standard punishment for a first offense under MLB’s drug policy is 50 games, the league had the option of suspending Rodriguez for longer than that under the collective bargaining agreement if it determined his actions constituted conduct detrimental to baseball or it determined that A-Rod’s various PED involvements entailed more than one offense.</p>
<h2>A litany of lies</h2>
<p>Almost immediately after the suspension was announced, Rodriguez declared he would appeal. He was the only one of the 13 Biogenesis players to do so; the others accepted season-ending 50-game suspensions without appeal. </p>
<p>In January, following a lengthy arbitration process, A-Rod’s <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/arbitrator-rules-alex-rodriguez-should-be-suspended-for-2014-season-for-ped-use-164637215.html">suspension was upheld</a>. Defeated by overwhelming <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/big-league-stew/rod-ruling-explained-arbitrator-fredric-horowitz-decided-162-013800428--mlb.html">evidence</a> and unwilling to take the stand, Rodriguez stormed out of his arbitration hearing. A-Rod then went on Mike Francesa’s radio show and explained that the system of appeals was unjust and that Selig had a personal vendetta against him. He also stated unequivocally that he had not used steroids since 2003.</p>
<p>Rodriguez then issued a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/alex-rodriguez-file-suit-challenging-suspension-lawyer/story?id=21507061">statement</a> saying he would be challenging the arbitrator’s decision but later changed his mind and accepted his suspension for the 2014 season. </p>
<h2>A-Rod finally comes clean</h2>
<p>This month it was revealed that Rodriguez had <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/article3578762.html">admitted</a> to the Drug Enforcement Administration back in January that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. This was contrary to his strident claims 18 days earlier in the arbitration hearing and the Mike Francesa show.</p>
<p>Because MLB did not have an automatic punishment policy in place from 2001 to 2003, A-Rod was not suspended or fined for his earlier transgressions. But since the 2005-06 seasons, negotiations with the union led to a policy with stiff sanctions – probably the stiffest in US sports leagues – allowing for a lifetime ban after a third offense.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64906/original/nvdvqzmb-1416343954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Yankees fan shares his thoughts on Rodriguez during a game in late 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/9734013247/in/photolist-fQan1B-4wj5AC-6mwsgc-6UAxFJ-dhLgok-4GCmzi-4wiYWE-6mwiYa-4FoHXV-4weRvV-6mwoy6-5fBXCH-5fTxxg-5fGYX1-6UrMKP-8pvNqr-4GGt8L-9BpTvG-5fTPGX-4GcEBx-6n5Dfs-6n1uCD-6mMxCH-5fsuQL-4Rf1JG-6n1ujV-6mRGS9-4wj2PS-4GGXTs-6UwvhV-6n1ysg-6n1vEx-5fTt8i-9B7454-fNAxXy-6n1wsa-6n5Es7-6n1ueT-6n5EYs-6n5Gu3-6mMwkF-6n1sHZ-6n5F41-6n5DaS-6n1uVi-4GuNz5-6n1tov-4Gcuy4-9B8U7C-9BnxPc">Keith Allison/Flickr via CC BY-SA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>From the standpoint of the Commissioner’s Office, MLB has to be very careful with any lifetime ban. For instance, whether getting steroid injections from Tony Bosch five times in one month and then getting caught in a laboratory test the following month constitutes one or five offenses is subject to interpretation. MLB would only have “analytic” evidence of one offense (the failed test), but it may have anecdotal or written evidence for all five offenses. If MLB argues for a lifetime ban in such a case, it would undoubtedly be challenged by the union. Thus, the difficulty in identifying the number of offenses and the politics of dealing with the union, make enforcement problematic. A-Rod’s possible return to the Yankees in 2015 reflects this dynamic. </p>
<p>So how was he allowed to rejoin the team and keep his salary? The answer is that MLB has to play by the rules negotiated with the baseball’s strong player union. The union has resisted more frequent testing and stiffer penalties on the grounds that players sometimes use PEDs unknowingly, that they should be given second or third chances and that tests can produce false positives. So MLB has been circumscribed, but still has a strong and effective program. </p>
<h2>A murky future</h2>
<p>As for A-Rod, his future is not so clear. After two major hip surgeries and numerous injuries, his soon-to-be 40-year-old body may simply be unable to perform. A-Rod needs to attempt to come back in order to assure his qualification for the US$61 million remaining on his contract. Should A-Rod be found unable to perform at spring training and he is forced to retire from baseball, the Yankees would still be liable for the US$61 million because the contract is guaranteed. The good news in this case for the Yankees is that approximately 80% of A-Rod’s salary would be covered by insurance.</p>
<p>Still another outcome might be that the Yankees sue A-Rod for breach of contract. When A-Rod was signed to his record ten-year US$271 million (plus bonuses of up to US$30 million) before the 2008 season, A-Rod denied using steroids. Since steroids usually help players in the short run, but make their bodies break down in the long run (due to imbalances in their muscles and bones), the Yankees could claim that A-Rod’s likely future productivity was misrepresented to them. The Yankees could then propose a settlement, buying out A-Rod for his remaining three years at a discounted price and potentially reducing the team’s bill to MLB under the luxury tax. </p>
<p>There is, of course, another possibility. A-Rod could return to the Yankees’ active roster, bat .300 and hit 30 home runs. And Mitch McConnell might come out against coal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Zimbalist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees’ erstwhile third baseman, has had an interesting career in more ways than one. His use of steroids has resulted in a sullied reputation and a one-year suspension without…Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/329532014-10-24T09:42:51Z2014-10-24T09:42:51ZChasing glory: why hosting the Olympics rarely pays off<p>The competition to host the Olympic Games has typically been fierce, but an increased awareness of the giant money pit they usually become is convincing some cities to think twice. </p>
<p>Earlier this month Oslo became the sixth city to reconsider its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics after Norway’s ruling political parties refused to support the process, leaving just two contenders remaining to jostle for hosting rights. </p>
<p>The process begins seven years prior to the Games, when the <a href="http://www.olympic.org/ioc">International Olympic Committee</a> (IOC) reviews the various bids and anoints a “winner”. With many bidders and only one seller, the IOC has had great leverage to extract ever more extravagant facilities and infrastructure needed to support the events.</p>
<p>Accordingly, the costs of hosting have steadily escalated. London <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-sochi-is-by-far-the-most-expensive-olympics-ever-2014-1">forked out</a> almost US$20 billion. Beijing spent more than US$40 billion. Sochi paid more than US$50 billion. Rio is expected to spend some US$20 billion on the 2016 Olympics, after Brazil invested nearly US$20 billion to host the 2014 World Cup.</p>
<p>On the other side of the ledger are the revenues. While the summer games produce US$5 billion to US$6 billion in income from television, ticket and premium sales, sponsorships, and merchandise, the Winter Games <a href="http://www.olympic.org/Documents/IOC_Marketing/OLYMPIC_MARKETING_FACT_FILE_2013.PDF">generate</a> around half this much. Out of these revenues, the IOC shares approximately half with the host city. Investing US$20 billion to US$60 billion and receiving back US$2 billion to US$3 billion does not sound like a very attractive business proposition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61854/original/6kngj45r-1413384149.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">China’s games were seen as a coming out party for the country, at a price tag of US$40 billion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/4928202807/in/photolist-8vujZV-8vys7q-8vtC48-8vvDEE-8vsRwt-8vvKTs-8vw1P9-8vw3w7-8vt5fr-2AqWpd-8vw4mN-8vuq6B-8vxkDy-5bCVzX-8vvoaR-8vwbrN-5dJ2sX-5fPe63-5i4id1-32jWrR-8vtJRX-8vwL63-8vuFTD-o9Yhn-8vtsqD-8vsCQR-8vwHnS-8vw5Kb-8vta3M-8vsBLr-8vuJWV-8vuW9z-8vyodS-8vuowe-8vxHZ5-8vxQn7-8vxEeS-8vypsN-8vtyRx-8vvLSu-8vtbsg-8vwNRd-8vvYZS-8vsUSp-8vugpH-8vvnze-8vtBUp-8vxD7A-8vy73E-8vsKMx">U.S. Army/Flickr CC BY</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The games’ promoters, however, claim the real payoff comes in increased tourism, foreign investment and trade. As my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Maximus-Economic-Hosting-Olympics/dp/0815726511">own research confirms</a>, the difficulty with this assertion is that there is little evidence to back it up. London and Beijing, for instance, each experienced a drop in tourism when they hosted the summer games. That is, the increase in tourism for the Olympics was more than offset by a decrease in normal tourism, as people decided to stay away from the crowds and high prices. To be sure, the large majority of scholarly studies concludes that there is no positive economic impact from hosting.</p>
<p>There is growing evidence that the IOC has overplayed its hand. The number of bidders for the Winter Olympics has gone steadily down from nine in 1995 for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City to <a href="https://theconversation.com/winter-olympics-2022-the-event-that-almost-nobody-wants-to-host-32583">just two in 2014</a> for the 2022 Games, and for the summer Olympics from 12 in 1997 for the 2004 games in Athens to three in 2013 for the 2020 games in Tokyo. </p>
<p>Potential bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics from Krakow, Stockholm, Munich, Davos, Lviv and Oslo <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/02/oslo-withdrawal-winter-olympics-2022-ioc">were withdrawn</a> in 2013 and 2014. This leaves only two authoritarian countries, Kazakhstan and China, in the hosting competition. Many <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2022-olympics-host-cities-2014-5">analysts</a> have concluded that democratic governments can no longer get away with wasting billions of dollars on dubious Olympic glory.</p>
<p>There are two examples of Olympic success in the past: Los Angeles in 1984 and Barcelona in 1992. These experiences have provided hope that hosting can pay off. The problem is that in each case the conditions were unusual and, in any event, are very hard to duplicate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61853/original/vfdfyz7b-1413383308.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The summer games held in Los Angeles in 1984 was one of the few financially successful Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnylawyer/8089345699/in/photolist-djQ1Dz-a4hBoJ-a4hAUd-a4eLwn-a4eL5x-a4hzqW-236b19-a4eJwa-a4eLMR-a4eMjp-a4hD7S-a4hCb3-fe54DD-fe526n-fe55dt-a4eNyM-8rPN7T-a4eNgg-a4eMCD-8BQVJS-5rrsRt-j4Syjw-5rrtp4-6ZsZvR-6fwGj9-6Zx2fY-5rvNdb-5qj26Y-5rvLpL-6ZwZdy-qAgT-8F1AbR-5rvNH3-3sUa2D-8F1Adr-8F4L71-2zCSpf-8F1Acv-2zyw4k-2zykNH-2zyuck-2zymrZ-2zym3n-2zyvpv-2zCH41-2zCTyq-2zyk3r-2zCTYh-2zywDX-2zyjYX">InSapphoWeTrust/Flickr, CC BY-SA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>After a string of commercially unsuccessful Olympics in Mexico City, Munich and Montreal, Los Angeles was the only bidder for the 1984 Games. LA told the IOC that it would only host if the IOC <a href="http://www.bgcv.org/Websites/bgcv/Images/20thAnniversary.pdf">guaranteed</a> the organizing committee against any losses. The LA plan was to use the existing sports infrastructure (plus a few smaller, privately funded venues), and Peter Ueberroth, the head of the LA committee, introduced a new corporate sponsorship model to help cover operating expenses. </p>
<p>Barcelona 1992 is another special case. The city began to develop a plan for the renovation of the city after Franco’s death in 1975. The plan had several components, including the opening of the city to the sea. Crucially, the plan pre-existed the bid to host the Olympics, and the games were fit into the plan, reversing the typical sequence. </p>
<p>The good news today is the IOC seems to be getting the message that the existing model doesn’t work. The new IOC president, Thomas Bach, has initiated a process to investigate ways to <a href="http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/9661846/new-ioc-president-thomas-bach-wants-change-olympic-bidding">change the bidding process</a> and its requirements. Whether the IOC eventually takes the necessary bold steps or it tinkers with tepid reform remains to be seen. In the meantime, cities would be prudent to follow the examples of Krakow, Stockholm, Munich, Davos, Lviv and Oslo, and forego the promise of Olympic glory.</p>
<p><em>Andrew Zimbalist is the author of the upcoming book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Maximus-Economic-Hosting-Olympics/dp/0815726511">Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32953/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Zimbalist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The competition to host the Olympic Games has typically been fierce, but an increased awareness of the giant money pit they usually become is convincing some cities to think twice. Earlier this month Oslo…Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics, Smith CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.