"Like the RNC’s prior argument, this has intuitive appeal, but again, precedent forecloses it," Judge Kelly wrote. And again, the House’s implicit determination that the Select Committee is duly authorized without the Republican members Minority Leader McCarthy recommended all but precludes the Court from holding otherwise. That she did not accept all his recommendations, and that Minority Leader McCarthy then withdrew all his recommendations, does not mean that Speaker Pelosi failed to consult with him. Similarly, the court refused to entertain challenges to the House's administration of its own rules because the “wisdom of congressional approach or methodology is not open to judicial veto.” ( Citation.)Īs for the idiotic claim that Kevin McCarthy could effectively torpedo the investigation by withdrawing his members, the court was especially scathing: To “consult” with Minority Leader McCarthy, all Speaker Pelosi had to do was ask for his “advice or opinion.” See Consultation, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. "he Court has little trouble concluding that the Speech or Debate Clause immunizes House Defendants from this suit and that they must be dismissed for that reason," Judge Timothy Kelly wrote, quickly disposing of the RNC's claim with logic that will be fatal to the case of every other Trump minion trying to block subpoenas if his judicial colleagues adopt it. Judge David Carter also dropkicked this nonsense in John Eastman's case, but he's a godless heathen from California.Īrticle I of the Constitution, AKA the Speech or Debate Clause, provides that members of Congress shall be "privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place." In plain English, you can't prosecute or sue Congress for conducting its official duties. This decision is perhaps more important because it's the first federal court in DC to squarely address the patently gobbledygook claims by half of MAGAland, and because it's by a Trump appointee. The DC Circuit already dealt with some of these issues when Trump sued to prevent the National Archives from disclosing his presidential communications, but that case was mainly about executive privilege and whether some asshole on a golf cart in Florida can assert it over the wishes of the guy in the Oval Office. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger weren't appointed by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and that the committee lacks subpoena power because it has no "ranking member." John Eastman and Alex Jones even went so far as to argue that Liz Cheney doesn't count because she isn't a "real" Republican. Generally speaking, they all allege that the committee lacks a legitimate legislative purpose that it is engaged in unconstitutional law enforcement activity that the subpoenas are overbroad and violate the First and Fourth Amendments that the committee is illegally constituted because Reps.
The dozens of lawsuits against the committee bear striking similarities to each other - indeed some appear to be simply copy-pasted to save on drafting particularized grievances. In the two months since the complaint was filed, the committee agreed to narrow its request significantly so that all personally identifying information about donors would be excluded. In March, the RNC sued the committee and its members to block the subpoena, and then added Salesforce as a defendant to prevent it complying with it. In brief, the committee subpoenaed the RNC and its vendor Salesforce, which handled its email and marketing campaigns, for information on how they used lies about the election to raise money, and potentially to promote violence by Trump supporters. In a meticulously detailed ruling, the Trump appointee laid waste to the legal theories advanced by everyone from the RNC to Mark Meadows to John "Coups 4 Dummies" Eastman, and even by Trump himself in an attempt to fight off subpoenas about the Capitol Riot.
Last night, US District Judge Timothy Kelly unceremoniously curb stomped the Republican Nation Committee's lawsuit against the House January 6 Select Committee.