    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
    [109th Congress]
    [House Document 108-241]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 403-407]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule VIII

                              response to subpoenas

    [[Page 404]]

    Sec. 697. Response to subpoenas.

      1.  When a Member, Delegate,
    Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House is properly
    served with a 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.

      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.

      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 the Speaker
    before seeking judicial determination of these matters.

    [[Page 405]]

      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.

      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 comply with the judicial or administrative subpoena or
    judicial order by supplying certified copies.

    [[Page 406]]

    that transpired under this clause shall promptly be laid before the
    House by the Speaker.
      (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

      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.

      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 subpoena, the House would authorize the person to respond by
    adopting a resolution. 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
    107th Congress the rule was amended to broaden its application to
    administrative subpoenas (sec. 2(c), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. 25).

    [[Page 407]]

    gress, 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).
      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 Con

      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).