[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 110th Congress]
[110th Congress]
[House Document 109-157]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 406-410]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                                Rule VIII


                          response to subpoenas


[[Page 407]]



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 408]]

  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 409]]

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 adopt a resolution authorizing 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 
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 410]]

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).