Again, it's not a "subpoena", it is a letter calling itself a "subpoena" and carries NO legal penalty for non-compliance.
A Legislative "letter" needs to carry judicial enforcement authority in order to be a "subpoena".
A Legislative "letter" needs to carry judicial enforcement authority in order to be a "subpoena".
Judicial Authority = Legislative authority (compulsion/subpoena) enforceable by the judicial branch.
It has long been well established by SCOTUS that Congress has lawful (judicial authority) subpoena powers pursuant to its implied responsibility of legislative oversight.... However,.....
...that only applies to the items enumerated in A1§8. Neither foreign policy (Ukraine) nor impeachment have any nexus to A1§8. So, for example, Schiffs Intelligence committee has no judicially enforceable subpoena power in the matters he pretends to be investigating.
It was separately established by SCOTUS during the Nixon impeachment investigation that *IF* the full House votes to have the Judiciary Committee commence an impeachment investigation, then Judiciary (only) has subpoena power that can overcome executive privilege claims....
....There has been no such vote.
As a consequence, the House has not created a process to penetrate the constitutionally inherent separation of powers, and/or, the legally recognized firewall known as 'executive privilege'.
As a consequence, the House has not created a process to penetrate the constitutionally inherent separation of powers, and/or, the legally recognized firewall known as 'executive privilege'.
Remember, the Legislative committee intent is to pierce the constitutional firewall that creates a distinct separation of powers; and the Legislative branch is trying to force documents from the Executive branch, overriding executive privilege. This is a constitutional issue.
The House must vote to authorize the committee investigation, and through that process the committee gains judicial enforcement authority.
A demand letter only becomes a "subpoena", technically meaning: ‘a request for the production of documents with a penalty for non-compliance’, when the committee has judicial enforcement authority.
That process establishes an enforcement penalty.
That process establishes an enforcement penalty.
The current demand letters cannot carry a penalty because the demands do not contain judicial enforcement authority…. because the investigation was not authorized by the chamber.
The reason judicial enforcement authority is constitutionally required, is because creating Judicial enforcement authority, gives the Executive Branch a process to appeal any legislative demand via the Judicial Branch (federal courts).
Absent a penalty for non-compliance the Executive Branch has no process to engage an appellate review by federal courts. This is the purposeful trick within the Pelosi/Lawfare road-map.
/END
/END
Because the Lawfare/Pelosi roadmap intends to work around judicial enforcement authority, the impeachment process is destined by design to end up running head-first into a constitutional problem; specifically separation of power and executive privilege....
....That predictable constitutional issue will end up with arguments to The Supreme Court.
THAT appears to be why Democrats and left-wing activists have been working for months to delegitimize the Supreme Court.
They always intended to run into this problem. They planned for it.
They always intended to run into this problem. They planned for it.
The Lawfare impeachment road-map is designed to conflict with the constitution. It is a necessary -and unavoidable- feature of their impeachment plan, not a flaw.
