Posted on 04/12/2023 8:35:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s urgent request to enter a restraining order against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was rejected on April 11, the same day it was filed.
U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, turned down Bragg’s emergency request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Jordan.
“The Court declines to enter the proposed Temporary Restraining Order and Order to Show Cause,” Vyskocil said, noting that she had not yet received several documents that were referenced in Bragg’s filings.
She ordered Jordan and other defendants in the case to respond to the lawsuit and scheduled a hearing for April 19.
Earlier Tuesday, Bragg sued Jordan for allegedly infringing on state sovereignty. Jordan has subpoenaed a former Bragg deputy and demanded documents from Bragg’s office regarding the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, a Republican who was indicted by a grand jury after being presented with charges by the Democrat district attorney.
Jordan “has no power under the Constitution to oversee state and local criminal matters,” Bragg’s suit stated.
Bragg’s office also asked the court to enter an order that would block Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan chairs, from enforcing the subpoena to former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz and prohibit Pomerantz from complying with it.
“The Judiciary Committee’s subpoena to Mr. Pomerantz marks the first time in our nation’s history that Congress has used its compulsory process to interfere with an ongoing state criminal case. The District Attorney is likely to succeed on the merits because the subpoena exceeds Congress’s authority and obstructs New York’s sovereign right to enforce its criminal law,” prosecutors said in a filing in support of their motion for a temporary restraining order.
“The subpoena would also irreparably injure the District Attorney by, among other things, interfering with an ongoing criminal case, compromising grand jury secrecy and the attorney-client privilege, and disrupting his preparation for trial. Finally, the balance of the equities and the public interest favor the District Attorney because the subpoena undercuts federalism principles and the fair administration of justice by injecting politics into a state criminal case,” they added.
Defendants have not yet lodged any filings.
‘They’re Obstructing’ Jordan said on Fox News that Bragg is obstructing a legitimate congressional investigation.
“They’re obstructing our investigation,” Jordan said. “We have a constitutional duty to get to the facts, particularly when you have a district attorney interfering with the most important election we have, which is the election of the commander-in-chief; the president of the United States.”
Trump, who was president until early 2021, is running for a second term in 2024.
Bragg has asserted that Jordan and other members of Congress lack the authority to probe the Trump prosecution but Jordan disagreed, pointing to how federal funds were used to investigate Trump.
“First, they indict a president for no crime. Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it,” Jordan said in a statement.
Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, left Bragg’s office because he was upset Bragg was not preparing to bring charges against Trump, Pomerantz wrote in his book.
Jordan said in a letter accompanying the subpoena to the former prosecutor that Pomerantz had “no basis to decline to testify” because of the book.
“Based on your unique role as a special assistant district attorney leading the investigation into President Trump’s finances, you are uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to inform the Committee’s oversight and potential legislative reforms,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan noted the book’s contents as he questioned the new lawsuit.
“He takes us to court because we want to talk to someone who left the DA’s office a year ago, who went out and wrote a book on this very subject,” Jordan said on Fox.
It’s unclear if Pomerantz will comply with the subpoena. Jordan initially requested voluntary cooperation, but Pomerantz said in a letter that Bragg’s office “has instructed me to not provide any information or materials in response to your request.”
Jordan has also said that a subpoena for Bragg himself is an option. “Everything’s on the table,” he said in one interview.
like a petulant child
Thank you, Mary Kay. It’s always a pleasure to see an honorable judge.
Tell all political books should come with a 20 year sentence.
How does attorney-client privilege fit into this case?
Bragg already admitted publicly that he used Federal Funds for this investigation and persecution. CONgress has the absolute right to bring his ass in, question him Under Oath, then find him in Contempt of Congress, Remand him to the Capitol Jail while the investigate the last 20 years of his life to uncover any crimes he may have committed.
Congress has ALL the power in washington, the executive and judicial branch operate according to the whims of CONGRESS!
“U.S. CODE
TITLE 2—THE CONGRESS
CHAPTER 6—CONGRESSIONAL AND COMMITTEE PROCEDURE; INVESTIGATIONS
Sec. 193. Privilege of witnesses
No witness is privileged to refuse to testify to any fact, or to produce any paper, respecting which he shall be examined by either House of Congress, or by any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or by any committee of either House, upon the ground that his testimony to such fact or his production of such paper may tend to disgrace him or otherwise render him infamous.”
Simply look up Hinds Precedents, especially chapters 53 and 51, and Cannon’s Precedents, especially chapters 184-185. You’ll find numerous detailed cases of Congress asserting its power, arresting people, holding them until they agreed to answer questions, and then releasing them. Some of these people did not refuse to appear, but simply failed to satisfactorily answer questions.
Congress has the authority to arrest and imprison those found in Contempt. The power extends throughout the United States and is an inherent power (does not depend upon legislated act)
If found in Contempt the person can be arrested under a warrant of the Speaker of the House of Representatives or President of the Senate, by the respective Sergeant at Arms.
Statutory criminal contempt is an alternative to inherent contempt.
Under the inherent contempt power Congress may imprison a person for a specific period of time or an indefinite period of time, except a person imprisoned by the House of Representatives may not be imprisoned beyond adjournment of a session of Congress.
Imprisonment may be coercive or punitive.
Some references
[1] Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, Volume 2, § 842 http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/a1_5s21.html
[2] Anderson v. Dunn - 19 U.S. 204 - “And, as to the distance to which the process might reach, it is very clear that there exists no reason for confining its operation to the limits of the District of Columbia; after passing those limits, we know no bounds that can be prescribed to its range but those of the United States.” http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/19/204/case.html
[3] Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/125/case.html 73rd Cong., 78 Cong. Rec. 2410 (1934) https://archive.org/details/congressionalrec78aunit
[4] McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 - Under a warrant issued by the President of the Senate the Deputy to the Senate Sergeant at Arms arrested at Cincinnati, Ohio, Mally S. Daugherty, who had been twice subpoenaed by the Senate and twice failed to appear. http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/135/case.html
[5] Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule IV Duties of the Sergeant at Arms - [] execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the Speaker. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/HMAN-105/pdf/HMAN-105-pg348.pdf
[6] An analysis of Congressional inquiry, subpoena, and enforcement http://www.constitutionproject.org/documents/when-congress-comes-calling-a-primer-on-the-principles-practices-and-pragmatics-of-legislative-inquiry/
In 1857, a New York Times reporter refused to say which members of Congress had asked him to get them bribes (protecting his “sources” just as various Judith Millers today protect the people who feed them proven lies that costs thousands of lives), so Congress locked him up until he answered and then banned him from Congress.
In 1924 an oil executive appeared but refused to answer certain questions, so the Senate held — literally held — him in contempt. Senator Thomas Walsh of Montana argued that this question of contempt was of the gravest importance, and that it involved “the very life of the effective existence of the House of Representatives of the United States and of the Senate of the United States.” The matter was taken to court, and the witness fined and imprisoned.
Congress needs to ensure the the US is not being denied presidents of quality due to legal abuses at the state and local level.
I know, but this should be the rule, not the exception.
My guess is that NYC is the ‘client’ and he’s teh ‘attorney’.......................
“No one is Above the Law”
That’s what he said. Yet, he claims he can accept Federal Funds and Federal Assistance to prosecute the activities of coverup of a non-criminal act (Yes, the Head of the FEC says Trump committed no election crimes)............ Without Answering to Congress.
The law says you take the Federal Money, you answer to the Federal Government and Congress when required to do so.
However, this Prosecutor believes he is above the law and that Trump doesn’t have a 6th Amendment right.
Sniffer will have to his own dirty work.
“Jordan “has no power under the Constitution to oversee state and local criminal matters,” Bragg’s suit stated.”
Jordan isn’t doing that. He is seeing how federal funds were illegally used by Bragg.
Bragg is nothing but an Affirmative Action Diversity hire. He is really stupid.
Bad things need to happen to this asshole, Bragg.
That's ironic considering that Bragg is apparently attempting to enforce a federal law -- I guess -- at the state and local level.
Which is why the WH sent him 3 top notch lawyers to do this for him.
If you take the kings money...
You do the kings bidding..
This news was out by 8:30pm last night here on FR.
Yet, the local news at 11pm and again this morning ran long stories about the Bragg suit, with NO mention that it was already denied by the court.
Fair media my arse.
This is nothing but a SLAPP suit, brought by retarded lawyers.
When are Trump’s attorneys going to file criminal charges against the City of NY and Alvin Bragg for violating his 6th amendment rights?
They should be filing now in Federal court. What are they waiting on?
Add to that, the additional felony committed by the leak of the grand jury indictment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.