Political Quotes

“Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Murkowski. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you, Senator. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Senators Rounds and Murkowski ask counsel for the President: Describe in further detail your contention that all subpoenas issued prior to the passage of H. Res. 660 are an exercise of invalid subpoena authority by the House committees. Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice. Thank you, Senators, for that question. As I explained the other day, this contention is based on a principle that has been laid out in several Supreme Court cases explaining that the Constitution assigns powers to each House of the legislative branch: to the House of Representatives or to the Senate. And in particular, the language of the Constitution is clear in article I that the sole power of impeachment is assigned to the House--as to the House of Representatives as a body. It is not assigned to any committee, to a subcommittee, or to any particular Member of the House. And in cases such as Rumely v. The United States and the United States v. Watkins, the Court has been called--there are disputes about subpoenas. They are not specifically in the impeachment context, but they establish the general rule, a principle, that whenever a committee of either body of Congress issues a subpoena to someone and that person resists the subpoena, the courts will examine what was the authority of that committee or subcommittee to issue that subpoena.…”