[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 106th Congress]
[106th Congress]
[House Document 105-358]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 388-391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 


                   Rule VIII.--RESPONSE TO SUBPOENAS



Sec. 697. Response to subpoenas.

  1.  When a Member, Delegate, 
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House is properly 
served with a subpoena or other 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 subpoena or other judicial order as 
hereinafter provided, unless otherwise determined under this rule.



[[Page 389]]

shall promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker.
  2. Upon receipt of a properly served subpoena or other 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

  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 subpoena or other 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 the Speaker before seeking judicial 
determination of these matters.

  4. Upon determination whether a subpoena or other 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.


[[Page 390]]

shall promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker.
  5. The Speaker shall inform the House of a determination whether a 
subpoena or other 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

  6. (a) Except as specified in paragraph (b) or otherwise ordered by 
the House, upon notification to the House that a subpoena or other 
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 comply 
with the subpoena or other judicial order by supplying certified copies.

  (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 
he 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 subpoena or other judicial order described in clause 1 is issued 
and served on a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or 
employee of the House.


[[Page 391]]

ber, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee, or of the 
House itself, to assert such privileges or rights before a court in the 
United States.

  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 Mem

  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. ----). 
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 subpoena, the House would decide by adopting a resolution 
granting authority to the person to respond. This case-by-case approach 
was changed in the 95th and 96th Congresses (H. Res. 10, Jan. 4, 1977, 
p. 73; H. Res. 10, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 19) when general authority was 
granted to respond to subpoenas and a procedure was established for 
automatic compliance without the necessity of a House vote. 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 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). A 
response to an administrative subpoena also raises a question of the 
privileges of the House (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 11, sec. 
14.8). A Member or employee receiving such a subpoena informs the House 
(July 30, 1998, p. ----; May 3, 1999, p. ----).



  Under clause 2, the Speaker promptly lays before the House a 
communication notifying him 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).