    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 119th Congress]
    [119th Congress]
    [House Document 118-187]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 437-440]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule VIII

                              response to subpoenas

    Sec. 697. Response to subpoenas.

      1. (a)  When a Member,
    Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House is
    properly served with a judicial subpoena or order, such Member,
    Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee shall comply,
    consistently with the privileges and rights of the House, with the
    judicial subpoena or order as hereinafter provided, unless otherwise
    determined under this rule.

      (b) For purposes of this rule, ``judicial subpoena or order'' means a
    judicial 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.

      2. (a) Upon receipt of a properly served judicial subpoena or order, a
    Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
    House shall promptly notify the Speaker in writing of its receipt
    together with either:

    [[Page 438]]

          (1) a determination as to whether the issuance of the judicial
    subpoena or order is a proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court and
    is consistent with the privileges and rights of the House; or

          (2) a statement that such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
    officer, or employee of the House intends to make a determination with
    respect to the matters described in subparagraph (1).

      (b) The notification required by paragraph (a) shall promptly be laid
    before the House by the Speaker.

      3. (a) Except as specified in paragraph (b) or otherwise ordered by
    the House, upon notification to the House that a judicial subpoena or
    order is a proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court 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 subpoena or order by supplying 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
    the Speaker 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.

    [[Page 439]]

    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.

      4. 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,

      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. In the 95th and 96th Congresses general authority was
    granted to respond to subpoenas without the necessity of a House vote
    (H. Res. 10, Jan. 4, 1977, p. 73; H. Res. 10, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 19).
    This standing authority was clarified and revised later in the 96th
    Congress (H. Res. 722, Sept. 17, 1980, pp. 25777-90) and formed 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), but this change was reversed in the 115th
    Congress (sec. 2(k), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2017, p. 37). The rule was re-
    written entirely in the 115th Congress to consolidate and clarify the
    notification process and eliminate a requirement that the Clerk transmit
    a copy of this rule to the court (sec. 2(k), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2017, p.
    37).

      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
    (Precedents (Wickham), ch. 6, Sec. 26.3); responding to a
    contemporaneous request for such records from a Special Counsel
    (Precedents (Wickham), ch. 6, Sec. 26.3); and authorizing an officer of
    the House to release certain documents in response to another such
    request from the Special Counsel (Precedents (Wickham), ch. 6,
    Sec. 26.6).

      A response to an administrative subpoena also raises a question of the
    privileges of the House (Deschler, ch. 11, Sec. 14.8). A Member or
    employee receiving such a subpoena may inform the House (July 30, 1998,
    p. 18298; May 3, 1999, p. 8040).

    [[Page 440]]

      Although clause 2 requires the Speaker to promptly lay before the
    House a communication notifying the Speaker of the receipt of a
    subpoena, the rule does not require that the text of a subpoena be
    printed in the Record (July 31, 1992, p. 20602).