Re: Bannon Indicted on Contempt Charges - BFD...SO WHAT, RUDY?

[Nancy Pelosi Imaginary Insurrection]

On 12 Nov 2021, Rudy Canoza <j...@phendrie.con> posted some
news:ESAjJ.37860$OB3....@fx06.iad:
>
> Stephen K. Bannon, a former top aide to Donald Trump, had refused to comply with
> subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.

Cry for us dwarf!

[House Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures
of the House]
[Chapter 17. Contempt]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

HOUSE PRACTICE

Sec. 1. In General
Sec. 2. Statutory Contempt Procedure
Sec. 3. -- Duties of the Speaker and U.S. Attorney
Sec. 4. -- Defenses; Pertinence Requirement
Sec. 5. Purging Contempt
Research References
2 Hinds Sec. Sec. 1597-1640; 3 Hinds Sec. Sec. 1666-
1724
6 Cannon Sec. Sec. 332-334
Deschler Ch 15 Sec. Sec. 17-22
Manual Sec. Sec. 293-299
2 USC Sec. Sec. 192, 194


Sec. 1 . In General

An individual who fails or refuses to comply with a House
subpoena
may be cited for contempt of Congress. Eastland v. United
States
Servicemen's Fund, 421 U.S. 491 (1975). Although the
Constitution does
not expressly grant Congress the power to punish witnesses for
contempt, that power has been deemed an inherent attribute of
the
legislative authority of Congress (Anderson v. Dunn, 19 U.S.
204
(1821)) so far as necessary to preserve and exercise the
legislative
authority expressly granted (Marshall v. Gordon, 243 U.S. 521
(1917)).
However, as a power of self-preservation, a means and not an
end, the
power does not extend to infliction of punishment. Manual
Sec. Sec. 294-296.
To supplement this inherent power, Congress in 1857
adopted an
alternative statutory contempt procedure. Sec. 2, infra. Thus,
the
House may either (1) certify a recalcitrant witness to the
appropriate
United States Attorney for possible indictment under this
statute or
(2) exercise its inherent power to commit for contempt by
detaining
the witness in the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Manual
Sec. 296.
The statutory procedure is the one used in modern practice,
but the
``inherent power'' remains available. In one instance, the
House
invoked both procedures against a witness. 3 Hinds Sec. 1672.
In contrast, the Senate may invoke its civil contempt
statute (2
USC Sec. 288d) to direct the Senate legal counsel to bring an
action
in Federal court

[[Page 450]]

to compel a witness to comply with the subpoena of a committee
of the
Senate.
Under the inherent contempt power of the House, the
recalcitrant
witness may be arrested and brought to trial before the bar of
the
House, with the offender facing possible incarceration. 3 Hinds
Sec. 1685. At the trial of the witness in the House, questions
may be
put to the witness by the Speaker (2 Hinds Sec. 1602) or by a
committee (2 Hinds Sec. 1617; 3 Hinds Sec. 1668). In one
instance, the
matter was investigated by a committee, the respondent was then
brought to the bar of the House, and a resolution was reported
to the
House for its vote. 2 Hinds Sec. 1628.
The inherent power of Congress to find a recalcitrant
witness in
contempt has not been invoked by the House in recent years
because of
the time-consuming nature of the trial and because the
jurisdiction of
the House cannot extend beyond the end of a Congress. See
Anderson v.
Dunn, 19 U.S. 204 (1821). The first exercise of this power in
the
House occurred in 1812, when the House proceeded against a
newspaper
editor who declined to identify his source of information that
had
been disclosed from executive session. 3 Hinds Sec. 1666. Such
powers
had been exercised before the adoption of the Constitution by
the
Continental Congress as well as by England's House of Lords
and House
of Commons. Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1935).
Although the
use of such powers was supported by the Supreme Court in
Jurney,
neither House has used them since 1935.


Sec. 2 . Statutory Contempt Procedure

Generally

An alternative statutory contempt procedure was enacted in
1857.
Under this statute the wrongful refusal to comply with a
congressional
subpoena is made punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and
imprisonment
for up to one year. A committee may vote to seek a contempt
citation
against a recalcitrant witness. This action is then reported
to the
House. 2 USC Sec. 192. If a resolution to that end is adopted
by the
House, the matter is referred to a U.S. Attorney,