What Happens If You Ignore a Subpoena?

Subpoenas are orders that help courts and Congress obtain information necessary to cases and investigations -- and they're legally binding. So can you really ignore one? Learn what could happen if you do in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbamb Here. If some local magistrate, or
say the United States Congress ever lays a subpoena on you,
the best thing to do, probably the easiest thing to do,
is just show up in court or to the Capitol
Hill and save yourself all the headaches. You could ignore

(00:21):
the subpoena. Of course, it happens more than you might
expect if you choose that route, though, get ready for
a world of legal hurt involving lawyers, lots of wasted time,
possible fines, and maybe some jail time. Neither option is great.
That comes with subpoenas. We spoke with Anthony Madonna, a
professor of political science at the University of Georgia. He said,

(00:42):
you're legally bound to show up. The problem with that
has always been enforcement. Simply. Subpoenas are documents that allow
attorneys or congress people to gather useful information. That info
is used in court proceedings or in congressional investigations. Subpoenas
generally are the same whether they're issued by Congress or
some other governmental entity. There are two kinds subpoena at

(01:04):
test of a candom which requires you to testify, and
subpoena Doocey's teacum, which requires you to hand over some
kind of tangible evidence. In most cases, an attorney usually
requests a subpoena and somebody like a justice of the peace,
a clerk, even a notary public will sign off on it.
Then it's usually served in person to the one being subpoenaed.
In the case of a congressional subpoena, it's issued by

(01:26):
a committee, often performing a duty known as congressional oversight
pro possible wrongdoing in the government. Congress famously issued subpoenas
to get to the bottom of the teapot Dome scandal
of the nineteen twenties and during Watergate in the nineteen seventies.
More recently, the Republican backed Benghazi Report in sixteen is
a prime example of the use of subpoenas to investigate,

(01:47):
as are the Democrat fueled inquiries into the administration of
Donald Trump, his finances, and any possible connections to Russian
interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election. So why would
anyone ignore a subpoena Congress if you hadn't noticed is
a political body that often acts like it. Interacting with
it often means dodging a lot of political potholes. Among

(02:07):
the most publicized of those who have defied congressional subpoena
in recent years are former Attorney General Eric Holder and
former White House Counsel Harriet Myers in two thousand eight.
In early twenty nineteen, Democrats leading the House Judiciary Committee
subpoena and White House Counsel Don McGann to testify in
regards to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference
in the sixteen election, Trump ordered McGann to ignore the subpoena,

(02:31):
citing a testimonial immunity for senior advisers to the president.
Trump famously called the Mueller inquiry a witch hunt and
blamed angry Democrats for those faced with the subpoena of
the non congressional variety, going to court and perhaps facing
people you don't want to see. A soon to be
excellent divorce case driver who plowed into you your former
boss is hardly enticing. Sometimes ignoring a subpoena and taking

(02:55):
your legal lumps seems like the safer bet. Spoiler, it
probably isn't The courts and Congress have ways of enforcing subpoenas.
They're not always effective, they often take time, but they
have their ways. If you ignore or defy subpoena, the
court that demanded your presence confined you in contempt. A
fine or jail time is possible. In the case of

(03:15):
defying a congressional subpoena, the committee that issued to subpoena
votes to issue a contempt citation, and then the full
chamber votes on it if it passes. Congress has three
ways to prosecute contempt charges. The first, according to the
Congressional Research Service, quote, a single House of Congress may
certify a contempt citation to the Executive Branch for the
criminal prosecution of an individual who is willfully refused to

(03:38):
comply with a committee subpoena. Once the contempt citation is received,
any prosecution lies within the control of the executive branch.
That means the Justice Department, a part of the executive branch,
can decide whether to bring a criminal prosecution, often citing
executive privilege or other protections. The Justice Department simply declines
to prosecute. Second, again, quote, a Congress may try to

(04:03):
enforce a subpoena by seeking a civil judgment declaring that
the recipient is legally obligated to comply. This process of
civil enforcement relies on the help of the courts to
enforce congressional demands, so Congress in this case would file
a civil suit against the subpoena. Stiffer Madonna said the
civil lawsuit route has its own problems. It moves really slowly.

(04:24):
The civil lawsuit is used sort of as leverage. They're
negotiating with the executive branch and usually get whatever it
is they're looking for through that. The third type of
enforcement is inherent contempt power, a rarely used and mostly
outdated method a Chamber of Congress can actually have. The
subpoena would be witness jailed for refusing to cooperate from
the Congressional Research Service again quote. The inherent contempt power

(04:48):
is a constitutionally based authority given to each house to
unilaterally arrest and detain an individual found to be obstructing
the performance of the duties of the legislature. It was
last used in nineteen thirty five. If you defy congressional
subpoena and are found guilty of contempt, it's a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of one hundred to one thousand
dollars an imprisonment for one to twelve months. The penalties

(05:10):
for ignoring non congressional subpoenas vary with jurisdiction and are
at the discretion of the presiding judge, whether it's bucking
Congress or your local magistrate. Ignoring a subpoena is clearly
a gamble. If the paperwork in hours in court don't
get you, the fine and or jail time might and
in the end, it's hard to predict what will happen
if there is an end. Madonna said. One of the

(05:32):
lines I always like to tell my students is rules
matter until they don't. At the end of the day.
Rules matter until someone decides we're going to stop enforcing
them or going to enforce them in a different way.
That's scarily or sadly always the case. Today's episode was
written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain

(05:53):
Stuff is a production of I Heart Radios, How Stuff Works.
Remoin this and lots of other perfectly legal topics. Visit
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