re: FBI's Peter Strzok may ignore House subpoena, says his lawyer

quote:

---

No. Congress has no authority to prosecute.

---

quote:

---

He'd face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000. When a witness in a congressional inquiry ignores a subpoena—and refuses either to testify before a committee or hand over requested documents—the committee can vote to issue a citation for contempt. If the full House (or Senate, if it's a Senate committee) also votes in favor, the citation gets passed to the office of the U.S. attorney, which is expected to bring the case before a federal judge.
Advertisement

The Constitution does not explicitly give Congress the right to issue subpoenas or contempt citations, but it began to do so not long after the birth of the Republic. The Supreme Court upheld the practice in 1821, reasoning that without it, Congress "would be exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice or even conspiracy may mediate against it." The ruling gave Congress the right to imprison uncooperative witnesses for contempt, but for no longer than the duration of the Congress that passed the citation.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Congress would enforce contempt citations itself, with the sergeants-at-arms taking guilty parties into custody. But the limitations of the 1821 court ruling led lawmakers to turn over the responsibility for prosecuting these citations to the executive branch. From 1857 on, a U.S. attorney was asked to certify contempt citations and bring them before a federal judge. The limit on the duration of imprisonment no longer applied. Problems arose in the 1920s, when Attorney General Harry Daugherty failed to prosecute corrupt officials (including his own brother) who refused to testify to Congress about the Teapot Dome scandal.

---