# Who enforces subpoenas for congress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399 "2019-04-11T19:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/1 "2019-04-11T19:04:13Z")
If congress issues a subpoena and the person it is for ignores it who does congress call to enforce it (i.e. have them arrested)? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/2 "2019-04-11T20:28:40Z")
I think it is probably the [U.S. Marshals Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marshals_Service) From that Wikipedia link: _“The Marshals Service also executes all lawful writs, processes, and orders issued under the authority of the United States, and shall command all necessary assistance to execute its duties”_ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/3 "2019-04-11T20:44:25Z")
The principal method would be a citation for contempt of Congress, a federal misdemeanor under 2 U.S.C. 192 since 1938. The Congress refers the matter to the U.S. Attorney of the District of Colombia and the executive branch takes over from there. Each branch of the national Congress also has its own Sergeant-at-Arms, who is pretty much head of security and can arrest/detain people on-premises. For example, he may do so as a result of a citation for contempt of congress. The Sergeant-at-Arms can even compel members of Congress to appear in their respective chamber, even if they are away from the Capitol, as authorized by rules pursuant to Article I Section V of the United States Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/4 "2019-04-11T20:48:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If congress issues a subpoena and the person it is for ignores it who does congress call to enforce it (i.e. have them arrested)? As I understand it, there are several options. First, Congress claims an inherent power to enforce its own subpoenas. Under that theory, the sergeant-at-arms arrests the subject of the subpoena and keeps him in the Capitol Jail. This hasn’t happened since 1935 and seems rather unlikely to happen again. Second, Congress can pass a criminal contempt resolution which is then referred to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia for prosecution. In theory, the US Attorney is required to bring the matter before a grand jury. Of course, if the subject of the subpoena is an executive branch official, this raises serious separation of powers concerns. Third, Congress can bring suit in a federal district court seeking a declaration that the party subject to the subpoena is required to comply. There is a clear statutory mechanism for the Senate to do it and a less clear mechanism for the House that might allow it. This is probably the cleanest in terms of separation of powers concerns, but does raise “political question” concerns. (As I understand it, while the Senate has commenced a number of such actions, it has never been against an executive branch official). If Congress prevails, it would get a federal court order which would be enforced accordingly. There’s a decent discussion [here](https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34097.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/5 "2019-04-11T20:48:29Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > The principal method would be a citation for contempt of Congress, a federal misdemeanor under 2 U.S.C. 192 since 1938. The Congress refers the matter to the U.S. Attorney of the District of Colombia and the executive branch takes over from there. So if the executive refuses to enforce it that is the end of it? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/6 "2019-04-11T20:54:41Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > Second, Congress can pass a criminal contempt resolution which is then referred to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia for prosecution. In theory, the US Attorney is required to bring the matter before a grand jury. Of course, if the subject of the subpoena is an executive branch official, this raises serious separation of powers concerns. In regards to this, I would think if the person were an officer in the executive branch they would be impeached by the House. I’m kind of shocked that Eric Holder was never impeached for his contempt of Congress but of course the day he was held in contempt, the Pubs had [a bigger issue to deal with](https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/supreme-court-rules-obamacare-is-constitutional). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/7 "2019-04-17T11:27:11Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > First, Congress claims an inherent power to enforce its own subpoenas. Under that theory, the sergeant-at-arms arrests the subject of the subpoena and keeps him in the Capitol Jail. This hasn’t happened since 1935 and seems rather unlikely to happen again. It hasn’t happened ever because there is no “Capitol Jail”. The Capitol Police do maintain a holding cell but it’s not located at the Capitol. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/8 "2019-04-17T16:19:31Z")
[CNN: Capitol Jail.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOZHrKvW_zY) (video 2:00) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/9 "2019-04-17T16:43:58Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > It hasn’t happened ever because there is no “Capitol Jail”. The Capitol Police do maintain a holding cell but it’s not located at the Capitol. There used to be a building called the “Old Brick Capitol” or “Old Capitol Prison” on One First St; however, it was named so not because the Congress ever operated the jail, but because the Congress met in this building while the real Capitol building was under repairs after the war of 1812, the building is physically on Capitol hill, and it was used to jail spies during the Civil War. The building was demolished in 1929 and the Supreme Court was built in its place[1]. According to the Office of the Historian for the House of Representatives, people have been imprisoned by the Congress based on their inherent or direct contempt power. Usually this just means the person was tried at bar in the chamber then locked in the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms or a spare room in the Capitol building until they comply or the legislative session ends, although technically Congress has plenary power over the D.C. area and has directly committed one person to a common D.C. jail[1]. Locking people up in the Capitol building was unseemly and besides, they had to be released at the end of the session. For this reason a law was passed in 1857 declaring contempt of Congress to be a statutory crime[2]; any contempt of Congress before this date means the Sergeant-at-Arms arrested the person and the above situation applied. Over the next hundred years Congress exercised their direct contempt power less and less, and the last known instance I could find was from 1935, although one source claims there has not been a case since 1945 this may be a typo and I cannot access the source for that claim [3][4][5]. Rest assured, the Congress has historically arrested, convicted, and imprisoned people for contempt - at least until the end of the legislative session. Congress has the Supreme Court’s blessing should they resume the practice, so long as due process is followed. The accused may appeal to the Supreme Court via a writ of habeas corpus. ~Max [1] Room Service in the Clink: The Case of the Consumptive Witness. (2013). Office of the Historian of the House of Representatives. Retrieved from [https://history.house.gov/Blog/2013/August/8-02-Capitol-Jail/](https://history.house.gov/Blog/2013/August/8-02-Capitol-Jail/) [2] Act of January 24, 1857, ch. 19, 11 Stat. 115. Available at [A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=011/llsl011.db&recNum=176) [3] Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1935). Available at [https://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep294/usrep294125/usrep294125.pdf](https://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep294/usrep294125/usrep294125.pdf) [4] “Parliamentarian’s Note: No contumacious witness has been tried at the bar of the House or Senate between 1936 and 1973.” Ch. 15, sec. 17, n. 7, 4 Deschler’s Precedents 15. Available at [Deschler's Precedents, Volume 4, Chapters 15 - 17 - § 17. In General](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-HPREC-DESCHLERS-V4/html/GPO-HPREC-DESCHLERS-V4-1-5-1.htm) [5] “No direct contempt proceeding has been brought since 1945.” Rex E. Lee, Executive Privilege, Congressional Subpoena Power, and Judicial Review: Three Branches, Three Powers, and Some Relationships, 1978 BYU L. Rev. 255 (1978). Available at: ["Executive Privilege, Congressional Subpoena Power, and Judicial Review" by Rex E. Lee](https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview/vol1978/iss2/1) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-enforces-subpoenas-for-congress/832399/10 "2019-04-17T16:58:28Z")
See also this exchange from the Senate Historical Office’s 2003 oral history interview with Chuck Ludlam[1]: > [@Ludlam](#): > > In the hearings, I went to the Architect of the Capitol and found out where the old Capitol jail was located. There was at one time a jail here in the Capitol where the Congress could imprison citizens who refused to comply with its subpoenas. > [@Ritchie](#): > > Where was it? > [@Ludlam](#): > > The AOC [Architect of the Capitol] reported to me, “Several rooms in the Capitol have evidently been used for detention of offenders. They were called Guard Rooms and it is not always clear whether those rooms were kept strictly for custody of prisoners or whether they were also used as a guard station.” In addition, there’s an article in the [Washington] Evening Star on October 6, 1902, that refers to a guard house located in the “room now occupied as the House of Representatives post office, in the southeast corner of the ground floor of the Capitol.” This is the room that was used by the infamous House bank. There are quite a few other references to guard rooms. [1] The Senate Legal Counsel, Interview #1, pp 20-21. (2003). Senate Historical Office. Retrieved from [U.S. Senate: 404 Error Page](https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Ludlam_Interview1.pdf)