WASHINGTON—Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put an end on May 8 to the prospect of House Democrats using an obscure congressional power known as “inherent contempt” to jail Attorney General William Barr, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and other Trump administration officials who defy subpoenas to testify or provide documents.
Pelosi was referring to Mnuchin’s refusal on Trump’s tax returns as well as Barr declining to give Congress an unredacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s recent report that found no evidence of collusion by any American, including Trump, with Russians to influence the 2016 election.
The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) are expected to hold Barr in contempt on May 9. On May 8, the committee decided on a straight party line ballot to schedule the contempt vote.
Under inherent contempt, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have the authority as an implied legislative prerogative under the Constitution and independent of the executive branch to impose fines, as well as to arrest and jail individuals who defy subpoenas to testify or produce evidence.
The process requires a majority vote of either chamber directing the sergeant-at-arms to order the U.S. Capitol Police to locate, arrest, and detain the individual, who then can be held in confinement until he or she complies with the subpoena.
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