Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbamb Here. If some local magistrate, or
Speaker 1: say the United States Congress ever lays a subpoena on you,
Speaker 1: the best thing to do, probably the easiest thing to do,
Speaker 1: is just show up in court or to the Capitol
Speaker 1: Hill and save yourself all the headaches. You could ignore
Speaker 1: the subpoena. Of course, it happens more than you might
Speaker 1: expect if you choose that route, though, get ready for
Speaker 1: a world of legal hurt involving lawyers, lots of wasted time,
Speaker 1: possible fines, and maybe some jail time. Neither option is great.
Speaker 1: That comes with subpoenas. We spoke with Anthony Madonna, a
Speaker 1: professor of political science at the University of Georgia. He said,
Speaker 1: you're legally bound to show up. The problem with that
Speaker 1: has always been enforcement. Simply. Subpoenas are documents that allow
Speaker 1: attorneys or congress people to gather useful information. That info
Speaker 1: is used in court proceedings or in congressional investigations. Subpoenas
Speaker 1: generally are the same whether they're issued by Congress or
Speaker 1: some other governmental entity. There are two kinds subpoena at
Speaker 1: test of a candom which requires you to testify, and
Speaker 1: subpoena Doocey's teacum, which requires you to hand over some
Speaker 1: kind of tangible evidence. In most cases, an attorney usually
Speaker 1: requests a subpoena and somebody like a justice of the peace,
Speaker 1: a clerk, even a notary public will sign off on it.
Speaker 1: Then it's usually served in person to the one being subpoenaed.
Speaker 1: In the case of a congressional subpoena, it's issued by
Speaker 1: a committee, often performing a duty known as congressional oversight
Speaker 1: pro possible wrongdoing in the government. Congress famously issued subpoenas
Speaker 1: to get to the bottom of the teapot Dome scandal
Speaker 1: of the nineteen twenties and during Watergate in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1: More recently, the Republican backed Benghazi Report in sixteen is
Speaker 1: a prime example of the use of subpoenas to investigate,
Speaker 1: as are the Democrat fueled inquiries into the administration of
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, his finances, and any possible connections to Russian
Speaker 1: interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election. So why would
Speaker 1: anyone ignore a subpoena Congress if you hadn't noticed is
Speaker 1: a political body that often acts like it. Interacting with
Speaker 1: it often means dodging a lot of political potholes. Among
Speaker 1: the most publicized of those who have defied congressional subpoena
Speaker 1: in recent years are former Attorney General Eric Holder and
Speaker 1: former White House Counsel Harriet Myers in two thousand eight.
Speaker 1: In early twenty nineteen, Democrats leading the House Judiciary Committee
Speaker 1: subpoena and White House Counsel Don McGann to testify in
Speaker 1: regards to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference
Speaker 1: in the sixteen election, Trump ordered McGann to ignore the subpoena,
Speaker 1: citing a testimonial immunity for senior advisers to the president.
Speaker 1: Trump famously called the Mueller inquiry a witch hunt and
Speaker 1: blamed angry Democrats for those faced with the subpoena of
Speaker 1: the non congressional variety, going to court and perhaps facing
Speaker 1: people you don't want to see. A soon to be
Speaker 1: excellent divorce case driver who plowed into you your former
Speaker 1: boss is hardly enticing. Sometimes ignoring a subpoena and taking
Speaker 1: your legal lumps seems like the safer bet. Spoiler, it
Speaker 1: probably isn't The courts and Congress have ways of enforcing subpoenas.
Speaker 1: They're not always effective, they often take time, but they
Speaker 1: have their ways. If you ignore or defy subpoena, the
Speaker 1: court that demanded your presence confined you in contempt. A
Speaker 1: fine or jail time is possible. In the case of
Speaker 1: defying a congressional subpoena, the committee that issued to subpoena
Speaker 1: votes to issue a contempt citation, and then the full
Speaker 1: chamber votes on it if it passes. Congress has three
Speaker 1: ways to prosecute contempt charges. The first, according to the
Speaker 1: Congressional Research Service, quote, a single House of Congress may
Speaker 1: certify a contempt citation to the Executive Branch for the
Speaker 1: criminal prosecution of an individual who is willfully refused to
Speaker 1: comply with a committee subpoena. Once the contempt citation is received,
Speaker 1: any prosecution lies within the control of the executive branch.
Speaker 1: That means the Justice Department, a part of the executive branch,
Speaker 1: can decide whether to bring a criminal prosecution, often citing
Speaker 1: executive privilege or other protections. The Justice Department simply declines
Speaker 1: to prosecute. Second, again, quote, a Congress may try to
Speaker 1: enforce a subpoena by seeking a civil judgment declaring that
Speaker 1: the recipient is legally obligated to comply. This process of
Speaker 1: civil enforcement relies on the help of the courts to
Speaker 1: enforce congressional demands, so Congress in this case would file
Speaker 1: a civil suit against the subpoena. Stiffer Madonna said the
Speaker 1: civil lawsuit route has its own problems. It moves really slowly.
Speaker 1: The civil lawsuit is used sort of as leverage. They're
Speaker 1: negotiating with the executive branch and usually get whatever it
Speaker 1: is they're looking for through that. The third type of
Speaker 1: enforcement is inherent contempt power, a rarely used and mostly
Speaker 1: outdated method a Chamber of Congress can actually have. The
Speaker 1: subpoena would be witness jailed for refusing to cooperate from
Speaker 1: the Congressional Research Service again quote. The inherent contempt power
Speaker 1: is a constitutionally based authority given to each house to
Speaker 1: unilaterally arrest and detain an individual found to be obstructing
Speaker 1: the performance of the duties of the legislature. It was
Speaker 1: last used in nineteen thirty five. If you defy congressional
Speaker 1: subpoena and are found guilty of contempt, it's a misdemeanor
Speaker 1: punishable by a fine of one hundred to one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars an imprisonment for one to twelve months. The penalties
Speaker 1: for ignoring non congressional subpoenas vary with jurisdiction and are
Speaker 1: at the discretion of the presiding judge, whether it's bucking
Speaker 1: Congress or your local magistrate. Ignoring a subpoena is clearly
Speaker 1: a gamble. If the paperwork in hours in court don't
Speaker 1: get you, the fine and or jail time might and
Speaker 1: in the end, it's hard to predict what will happen
Speaker 1: if there is an end. Madonna said. One of the
Speaker 1: lines I always like to tell my students is rules
Speaker 1: matter until they don't. At the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Rules matter until someone decides we're going to stop enforcing
Speaker 1: them or going to enforce them in a different way.
Speaker 1: That's scarily or sadly always the case. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radios, How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: Remoin this and lots of other perfectly legal topics. Visit
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