Subpoenas 101

The situation shrieks irony.  Republicans, knowing they're about to lose control of the House of Representatives and its investigative functions, are piling on, in a manner and to a degree that even Donald Trump would admire.

Today's piler-on-in-chief is Representative Bob Goodlatte (R - VA).  As Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Goodlatte has issued subpoenas to James Comey and Loretta Lynch.  Those subpoenas ostensibly serve an investigation of - are you ready? - Hillary Clinton's email.  What's more, in flexing his political pandering muscles, Goodlatte specified that Comey and Lynch must testify behind closed doors.

It'll be interesting to see if that actually happens.  Mr. Comey has said that he's be willing to testify only if any hearing was public.

Subpoena 101, Mr. Goodlatte.  Even a Congressional subpoena can be ignored, quite possibly more easily than a judicial one.  For a Congressional subpoena to be legally binding, the committee issuing it must do three things.

1. The committee's investigation of the subject area must have been authorized by the House at large.
2. The investigation must be in service of a valid legislative purpose (without necessarily involving actual or proposed legislation).
3. The actions the subpoena attempts to enforce must be demonstrably pertinent to the subject matter area that has been authorized by the House.

Through his lawyer, Comey has said that he will resist in court what he called an abuse of process.  Since the scheduled testimony is for early December, and court proceedings could take several weeks, it's clear that  Mr. Goodlatte'sunderstanding of subpoenas (and the calendar?) are a bit lacking.