[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 111th Congress]
[111st Congress]
[House Document 110-162]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 402-406]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Rule VIII
response to subpoenas
[[Page 403]]
judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order directing
appearance as a witness relating to the official functions of the House
or for the production or disclosure of any document relating to the
official functions of the House, such Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee shall comply, consistently with the
privileges and rights of the House, with the judicial or administrative
subpoena or judicial order as hereinafter provided, unless otherwise
determined under this rule.
|
Sec. 697. Response to subpoenas. |
1. When a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House is properly
served with a
|
2. Upon receipt of a properly served judicial or administrative
subpoena or judicial order described in clause 1, a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall promptly
notify the Speaker of its receipt in writing. Such notification shall
promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker. During a period of
recess or adjournment of longer than three days, notification to the
House is not required until the reconvening of the House, when the
notification shall promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker.
[[Page 404]]
the Speaker before seeking judicial determination of these matters.
3. Once notification has been laid before the House, the Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall
determine whether the issuance of the judicial or administrative
subpoena or judicial order described in clause 1 is a proper exercise of
jurisdiction by the court, is material and relevant, and is consistent
with the privileges and rights of the House. Such Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee shall notify
4. Upon determination whether a judicial or administrative subpoena or
judicial order described in clause 1 is a proper exercise of
jurisdiction by the court, is material and relevant, and is consistent
with the privileges and rights of the House, the Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall
immediately notify the Speaker of the determination in writing.
5. The Speaker shall inform the House of a determination whether a
judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order described in
clause 1 is a proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court, is material
and relevant, and is consistent with the privileges and rights of the
House. In so informing the House, the Speaker shall generally describe
the records or information sought. During a period of recess or
adjournment of longer than three days, such notification is not required
until the reconvening of the House, when the notification shall promptly
be laid before the House by the Speaker.
[[Page 405]]
comply with the judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order by
supplying certified copies.
6. (a) Except as specified in paragraph (b) or otherwise ordered by
the House, upon notification to the House that a judicial or
administrative subpoena or judicial order described in clause 1 is a
proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court, is material and relevant,
and is consistent with the privileges and rights of the House, the
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House shall
(b) Under no circumstances may minutes or transcripts of executive
sessions, or evidence of witnesses in respect thereto, be disclosed or
copied. During a period of recess or adjournment of longer than three
days, the Speaker may authorize compliance or take such other action as
the Speaker considers appropriate under the circumstances. Upon the
reconvening of the House, all matters that transpired under this clause
shall promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker.
7. A copy of this rule shall be transmitted by the Clerk to the court
when a judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order described
in clause 1 is issued and served on a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House.
8. Nothing in this rule shall be construed to deprive, condition, or
waive the constitutional or legal privileges or rights applicable or
available at any time to a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House, or of the House itself, or the right
of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee,
or of the House itself, to assert such privileges or rights before a
court in the United States.
[[Page 406]]
poena, the House would adopt a resolution authorizing the person to
respond. In the 95th and 96th Congresses general authority was granted
to respond to subpoenas without the necessity of a House vote (H. Res.
10, Jan. 4, 1977, p. 73; H. Res. 10, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 19). This
standing authority was clarified and revised later in the 96th Congress
(H. Res. 722, Sept. 17, 1980, pp. 25777-90) and forms the basis for the
present rule. In the 107th Congress the rule was amended to broaden its
application to administrative subpoenas (sec. 2(c), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3,
2001, p. 25). A gender-based reference was eliminated in the 111th
Congress (sec. 2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. _).
Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
provision was found in former rule L (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47).
It was added initially in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, p.
98). Until the 95th Congress, whenever a Member, officer, or employee
received a sub
In the 102d Congress the House considered as questions of the
privileges of the House resolutions: responding to a subpoena for
records of the ``bank'' in the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Apr. 29,
1992, p. 9753); responding to a contemporaneous request for such records
from a Special Counsel (Apr. 29, 1992, p. 9763); and authorizing an
officer of the House to release certain documents in response to another
such request from the Special Counsel (May 28, 1992, p. 12790). Under
rule VIII as amended in the 107th Congress, a Member or employee
receiving such a subpoena informs the Speaker, as had been the practice
under precedent (Deschler, ch. 11, Sec. 14.8) before the rule was
amended (July 30, 1998, p. 18298; May 3, 1999, p. 8040).
Under clause 2, the Speaker promptly lays before the House a
communication notifying the Speaker of the receipt of a subpoena, but
the rule does not require that the text of a subpoena be printed in the
Record (July 31, 1992, p. 20602).