Congress’s Contempt Power: A Sketch Page: 2 of 21
This report is part of the collection entitled: Congressional Research Service Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Congress's Contempt Power: A Sketch
Summary
Congress's contempt power is the means by which Congress responds to certain acts that in its
view obstruct the legislative process. Contempt may be used either to coerce compliance
(inherent contempt), punish the contemnor (criminal contempt), and/or to remove the obstruction
(civil contempt). Although arguably any action that directly obstructs the effort of Congress to
exercise its constitutional powers may constitute a contempt, in the last seventy years the
contempt power (primarily through the criminal contempt process) has generally been employed
only in instances of refusals of witnesses to appear before committees, to respond to questions, or
to produce documents.
This report outlines the source of the contempt power, reviews major developments in the case
law, and analyzes the procedures associated with each of the three different types of contempt
proceedings. Finally, the report discusses the recent investigation by the House Judiciary
Committee that has resulted in votes for criminal contempt of Congress and the filing of a civil
lawsuit to enforce congressional subpoenas. A more fully developed and detailed version,
complete with sources and references, can be found in CRS Report RL34097, Congress's
Contempt Power: Law, History, Practice, and Procedure, by Morton Rosenberg and Todd B.
Tatelman.Congressional Research Service
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
Tatelman, Todd B. Congress’s Contempt Power: A Sketch, report, April 15, 2008; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806591/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.