Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the newly established subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” is conducting investigations that House Republicans claim are modeled after the 1975-76 Select Committee on Intelligence Activities. In a co-authored opinion, Dennis Aftergut, Norman Ornstein, and CERL Executive Board member Stuart Gerson discuss the letter issued on Feb. 15 by a bipartisan group of government officials who staffed the famed 1970s Church Committee. According to the authors:

It’s useful when a distinguished group of seasoned veterans of the committee which today’s Republicans claim to be emulating present them with the true lens of history. Their letter shows how far Jordan and his party colleagues have strayed from the search for truth and, indeed, their lack of interest in finding it.

The Church Committee was Congress at its finest. The Jordan Committee is Congress at its lowest.

Stuart Gerson is Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, former Acting Attorney General of the United States, and Founding Member of Checks & Balances. Read his bio here.