THE POWER TO DIG
MCGRAIN V. DAUGHERTY 273 U.S. 135 (1927) CONGRESSIONAL POWER TO INVESTIGATE
Scandals have dotted American politics from the start. In 1798, Representative Matthew Lyon (Democrat-Republican-Vermont) was censured for spitting on a colleague, convicted of violating the Alien & Sedition Act, and reelected—from prison. But save for Watergate, font of America’s sole presidential resignation, no scandal outranks the Teapot Dome Affair, an outrage that effloresced under President Warren G. Harding. Teapot Dome also stands alone in its impact on government operations, since it established the constitutional basis for Congress to investigate how Cabinet members and subordinates implement executive branch functions assigned the President—a precedent with current-day implications.
Corruption riddled Harding’s presidency, but other misdeeds paled beside the fate of two
