THE Mvichigan Daily Vol. LXXXIV, No. 50-S Ann Arbor, Michigan--Saturday, July 27, 1974 Ten Cents Twelve Pages alk talk, talk, talk, talk Nixon backers lose key vote wL ;:kon articles of mpeachmen AP Photo CHAIRMAN PETER RODINO (D-N.J.) listens to seemingly endless debate yesterday as the House Judiciary Committee discussed a key amendment to the articles of impeachment. The committee is expected to vote today on which articles it will recommend to the full House. Regents boost 1 f tuition back to. Fall 73 level See story, # page 3 WASHINGTON 0(--Impeachment advocates won their first major vote by a wide margin late last night by defeating a Republican attempt to start dismantling the charges against President Nixon. The 27-11 vote shortly before midnight climaxed a long day of partisan haggling in which out- numbered Nixon supporters insist- ed proposed impeachment charges were too vague. MORE TEST votes are expected today, but the committee seemed certain to - recommend-perhaps this weekend-that the House impeach Nixon and put him on trial. in the Senate. There, a two- thirds vote to convict would remove him from office. Though committee m e m b e r s were growing weary from their third con- secutive late-night, nationally broadcast debate, controlling Democrats let the argument run its course before the quick, one-sided roll call vote settled this first substantive decision. All 21 Democrats were joined by six of the 17 Republicans in refusing to abandon a section of a proposed im- peachment article charging Nixon with 'making false of misleading statements to lawfully authorized investigative offi- cers and employes of the United States." JOHN DOAR, chief counsel for the impeachment inquiry, expressed the fears of the majority when he was ask- ed what harm could come from revising each impeachment article to include details of evidence. To do that, he said "would cause harm. It will just build and build and feed and fester into more and more delay ..." What Doar and the majority appeared determined to avoid was giving the anti-impeachment bloc a mass of factual statements each of which could be ques- tioned closely - thereby throwing the committes's schedule even further be- hind. COMMITTEE members found the few precedents sometimes in conflict for this first presidential impeachment pro- ceeding since 1868. Rep. Charles Sandman (R-N.J.) offer- ed the motion to knock out the provi- sion and said he was prepared to make similar attacks on each of eight other sections in the proposed article. Sandman and Rep. Charles Wiggins (R-Calif.) led the anti-impeachment bloc that contended the allegations lacked enough detail to permit the President to defend himself. uoar But the backers of the article, appar- ently holding a bipartisan majority on the 38-member committee, replied that the President and his counsel were fully familiar with the charges. REP. ELIZABETH Holtzman (D-N.Y.) said the opponents of the article were focusing on "a really phony issue." Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.) said that contentions such as those by Sand- man and Wiggins were "phantom argu- ments, bottomless arguments." She said that "if we have not afforded the Presi- dent of the United States due process . .. then there is no due process to be found anywhere." As the debate dragged on and grew more bitter, Chairman Peter Rodino (D-N.J.) called for order and said: 'This is serious ennigh that to indulge in parliamentary maneuvers to delay a decision on this important question only serves to tell the neople that we are afraid to meet this issue." THE DEBATE was consumed almost entirely by the dispute over detail- rather than whether the charges them- selves are valid. Supporters of the article noted that the President's lawyer participated in all sessions during which the committee received its evidence and many tlemo- crats cited the material on which the allegations were based. In addition, they pointed out that a detailed committee report would accompany any articles of impeachment the panel approved. There was little indication in the de- bate of any weakening in the bipartisan support for impeachment. It appears that as many as seven Republicans will join the 21 Democrats in recommending Nixon's removal from office.