Posted on 03/11/2015 2:25:35 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
(CNSNews.com) - The House Select Committee on Benghazi will not subpoena Hillary Clinton's email server, because it can't, committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.
"Well our committee doesn't have the power -- under our rules, we don't have the power to seize a personal property like that. The House as a whole, that's franky an open constitutional question as to whether the House as a whole has that legal authority, but frankly, we shouldn't have to compel it," Gowdy said.
"You can subpoena but the power to subpoena is only as good as the power to compel compliance," Gowdy, an attorney, said. "But rather than have that protracted legal battle, I don't know why she doesn't just turn the server over."
At her news conference on Tuesday, Clinton said the private email server she used during her time at the State Department "contains personal communications from my husband and me, and I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and the server will remain private."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
I’m afraid I don’t understand this concept.
A congressional investigating committee doesn’t have the power to compel a witness to produce evidence? Really?
Yes, but the DOJ has the right to seize the Server, and they have the power and the right to investigate this to the fullness of the law
Uniparty eunuchs doing the DC Kabuki theater?
What if the server is under control of the Secret Service? Who paid for it? Who is paying the monthly/yearly fees or for its maintainance?
Is it personal property, or was that server paid for by the GSA and provided to former president Clinton? Who paid for the server?
I guess Hillary must have spoken with him.
Do you see Holder, or Lynch, seizing Hillary’s server?
Certainly, the FIRST question Gowdy should ask Hillary is “Who paid for the server? Who paid to program the server?”
Because if she does she is done!
How do we find out? Who has the data base that would list equipment ?
In other words, the server will be seized right after the New Black Panthers are indicted for voter intimidation and a unicorn wins the Kentucky Derby.
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 Storys 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/
I am rooting for the Anonymous kids, on this one... let’s hope they’re on it.
Whether Gowdy or Issa - these hearings have been jokes. They even make real prosecutions less likely, if that is possible. Bring back the independent prosecutors.
Oops, there goes that boating accident.
What Judge Napolitano said was the chance to get a look at the server won’t come till sometime in 2017.
Sad......I knew they weren’t going to do a thing, but to see it in print is awful.
Biden is the President of the Senate...
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.