Robert Reich: Congress Should Be Ready to Arrest Attorney General Barr if He Defies Subpoena [View all]

[babylonsister]

https://prospect.org/article/congress-should-be-ready-arrest-attorney-general-barr-if-he-defies-subpoena


Congress Should Be Ready to Arrest Attorney General Barr if He Defies Subpoena
Robert Reich
May 7, 2019
How lawmakers can counter the president's most dangerous power grab yet.


snip//

Would America really be subject to the wild spectacle of the sergeant-at-arms of the House arresting an attorney general and possibly placing him in jail?

Probably not. Before that ever occurred, the Trump administration would take the matter to the Supreme Court on an expedited basis.

Sadly, there seems no other way to get Trump to move. Putting the onus on the Trump administration to get the issue to the court as soon as possible is the only way to force Trump into action, and not simply seek to run out the clock before the next election.

What would the court decide? With two Trump appointees now filling nine of the seats, it’s hardly a certainty.

But in a case that grew out of the Teapot Dome scandal in 1927, the court held that the investigative power of Congress is at its peak when lawmakers look into fraud or maladministration in another government department.

Decades later, when Richard Nixon tried to block the release of incriminating recordings of his discussions with aides, the Supreme Court decided that a claim of executive privilege did not protect information relevant to the investigation of potential crimes.

Trump’s contempt for the inherent power of Congress cannot stand. It is the most dictatorial move he has initiated since becoming president.