The House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Mr Henry J. Hyde, a Republican from Illinois, is driven by his passionate religious, political and moral beliefs, is tempered by personal compassion and is as crafty a politician as any who came out of his native Chicago suburbs.
A devout Catholic, he quotes St Thomas Aquinas, Sir Thomas More and Theodore Roosevelt. He reads 13th century chronicles of the Crusades. He laughs easily and sometimes cries. He is one of the few old-fashioned orators left in the House of Representatives. And when he rises to speak from the well of the house, people pay attention.
"The long, hard march of humanity toward the promised land of freedom has been marked by the constant struggle to vindicate the rule of law against the tyranny of power," he said last week in debating the resolution to release Kenneth Starr's report.
He will need to draw on his scholarly mind and political skills as he presides over a committee that has been handed the most difficult task it has ever faced: deciding on the fate of President Clinton.
Mr Hyde (74) is best known as the father of the 1975 ban on most federal funding for abortions, but he never forgets practical politics. He rode to the rescue of his party in January when it was split over abortion. The Republican National Committee was considering a resolution by hard-liners that would have denied party support to any candidate who refused to support a ban on a type of late-term abortion procedure. In an appearance that riveted the gathering, he said it would be foolish to turn people away over such a narrow issue.
His relationship with women in the house has been mixed. Those favouring abortion rights loathe the parliamentary skills he has used against them, and some see him as paternalistic. But his courtliness and deference toward women, as well as his support for family leave, have made him many female friends.