Importance of the Fact-Finding Process
George Meader · The University of Chicago Law Review · 1951
HE INVESTIGATIVE POWER of the Congress is the means through which Congress may, if it has the mind to do so, reassert the policy-making authority intended to be vested in it by the drafters of the Constitution.Our national economy has developed amazingly in our rather brief national history of a century and a half, but our national legislature has failed to keep pace with the demands upon it for the development of sound national policies and programs in a modern, complex and mechanized society.This weakness in the Congress has resulted in the delegation to the executive branch of the government of vast legislative authority.Legislation frequently is drafted in the departments or bureaus and presented to the Congress as an administration "must" bill.Loyal administration committee chairmen or committee members are expected to force the passage of such a bill with a minimum of amendments.This weakness also has induced Congress to announce broad objectives in general terms, then create boards or commissions with extensive but looselydefined authority to accomplish these objectives.The net effect of this weakness on the part of Congress is that national policies are not originated and determined by the representatives of the people, but for the most part are originated in, then spelled out by, the executive branch of the government.This method of legislating is not in the interest of true democracy.If this trend continues, with Congress becoming weaker and the executive branch of the government becoming stronger, the adoption of national policies through elected representatives will be a mere fiction.When that time arrives the equilibrium designed by those who drafted our Constitution will have been upset, and the protection of our citizens, through the system of checks and balances, from abuses of public power will have vanished.Equilibrium will be restored between the executive and the legislative branches only when Congress so equips itself that it can inde-