Last year, Roger Clemens and his trainer McNamee (as well as Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro a few years ago) had to testify before Congress regarding whether or not he used anabolic steroids. What doesn’t make sense to me is, why Congress? What jurisdiction do they have that other courts don’t, and why would they even care if someone broke the rules of baseball? The rules of baseball aren’t federal laws, after all. Could someone please shed light on why Clemens was tried before Congress rather than a standard civil court?
Well Congress is not a court, and what happened was not a criminal trial. Presumably a committee of Congress was interested in whether it ought to prepare legislation to reform baseball, and therefore sought some evidence on the subject. And I presume that Congress is interested in baseball because it’s a form of interstate commerce (and not just some kind of sporting activity).
Congress isn’t a court, but they have the power of subpoena (this is the convenient thing about getting to write subpoena laws) and House and Senate committees can compel people to testify about any topic they wish, in order to aid their fact-finding process for creating or amending legislation.
While it’s true that Congress does not write the rulebook for baseball, they do have an interest in regulating and controlling drugs, like steroids, some of which are illegal to possess, and all of which are illegal to dispense without the proper medical licenses.
MLB also enjoys a unique quasi-monopoly status over that form of entertainment, and thus is usually happy to cooperate with Congressional investigations, lest some eager congress critter get a big idea like increasing regulation over MLB’s operations, or forcing a division to eliminate their monopoly.
Baseball has an antitrust exemption granted by Congress, which is why Congress has jurisdiction.
Of course, ultimately Congress has jurisdiction over everything. They can compel anyone to testify. While it is not a court and they can’t hand out sentences or punishments, people are often asked to testify under oath. That means they are subject to perjury charges by the courts if they lie. That’s why Congressional testimony is so powerful.