Whereas the congressional power to investigate and oversee the executive branch is a cornerstone of separation of powers and necessary to expose and deter executive lawlessness, corruption, fraud, waste, and other serious abuses; Whereas Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously observed, Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants; the electric light the most efficient policeman ; Whereas due process requires that the law warn before it strikes, the House of Representatives has voted articles of impeachment against three Presidents, one Cabinet officer, one Senator, one Supreme Court Justice, and fourteen subordinate Federal judges without clarifying the meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors to give fair warning to the President, Vice President, and other civil officers of the United States; Whereas the congressional power of oversight is the power preservative of all other congressional authorities; Whereas the slowness of judicial adjudications of executive privilege or state secrets invocations by the President to resist a congressional subpoena is inconsistent with the political time frame in which impeachment operates; Whereas the congressional powers of investigation or oversight of the executive branch are crippled without documents and testimonies from executive branch officials; Whereas the House Judiciary Committee voted an article of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon for failing to produce documents and things demanded by duly authorized Committee subpoenas pursuant to the sole power of impeachment vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives; Whereas in pursuit of any legitimate legislative objective, Congress is authorized to investigate and to oversee the executive branch and to impose sanctions for contempt of its processes; Whereas legitimate objectives include determinations of whether laws have been violated, whether they have been properly enforced, whether new laws are needed, or whether funds should be appropriated or withheld