On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) stated that the Trump administration is “essentially inviting us” to use inherent contempt powers.
Raskin stated, “One, we can hold them in contempt and try to go to court, to the U.S. attorney. But that U.S. attorney reports to the Department of Justice, which means reports ultimately to Bill Barr, who’s clearly part of the new racket operation. So, that’s not going to work. We have inherent powers of contempt that we haven’t used yet. They go back to the 19th century when the Supreme Court said, in Anderson v. Dunn in 1821 that Congress has the exact same powers to enforce its orders that a court does. So, he’s tempting us, he’s essentially inviting us to go back and to dust off those old powers.”
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