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Congress can issue subpoenas to people and hold them in contempt if they fail to appear, produce documents, or lie during an investigation. Those found in contempt can face up to 12 months in prison and fines. Janet Reno, Karl Rove, and Rita Lavelle have all faced contempt charges.
The United States Congress, by virtue of a 1938 law, has the right to request that people appear before any body (House or Senate). This is issued in the form of a subpoena in most cases. When a person fails to show up or testify, Congress is empowered by the same law to find the person who has scorned Congress. More generally, any person who impedes a congressional investigation can be cited as contempt. Acts that impede an investigation include failing to appear when summoned, failing to produce requested documents, or lying to Congress in an attempt to obstruct an investigation.
Contempt of Congress is very similar to being contemptuous of a federal or state judge or court. If you don’t respond to a subpoena in regular court, you can get a contempt summons. Similarly, refusing to answer questions if you appear and do things like withhold evidence related to an investigation can be charged with contempt.
Another similarity in the contempt of congress is your rights if you get a subpoena. In most cases, you can claim Fifth Amendment rights if your testimony would be self-incriminating. If the House or Senate is investigating some scandal that directly affects the person being sued, the person need not incriminate himself by testifying. However, failure to respond to the subpoena and fail to submit the nomination could have repercussions. He’s actually breaking a law.
Under current US law, a person found in contempt of Congress has committed a misdemeanor, can serve up to 12 months in prison, and can be fined. It is up to the investigating house to determine whether such fines or a prison sentence are appropriate. Sometimes Congress doesn’t even intervene in cases where a person is in long-standing contempt. The hope may be that simply declaring someone she despises congress could lead to the appearance of her, though that’s not always the case.
When the term first evolved, contempt of congress was often defined as bribing a member of Congress to act in a specific way, which was undoubtedly contemptuous, but this is no longer the case. Now it refers more often to an allegation from one of the houses that a person failed to respond to a subpoena or summons for documentation. There are some trials for subpoenas that can be made. For example, a person may argue that Congress does not have enough evidence to justify a subpoena.
Several people were cited on contempt charges. In recent decades, Janet Reno and Karl Rove have both been looked down upon. One of the more notorious cases relatively recently, leading to an outright prison sentence, was when the House of Representatives vilified Rita Lavelle of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for her testimony . She received six months in prison and was fined $10,000 for lying during the House investigation into the misuse of EPA funds.
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