How contempt of Congress works - and the next steps in the contempt case against Dr. Fauci
Sen. Rand Paul is pictured during a hearing as Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, testifies about the COVID-19 pandemic in front of the Senate Homeland Sec
A Senate committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt for his recent testimony before lawmakers during which he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than one hundred times.
Big picture view:
Following Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the body’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, called for the contempt vote that could lead to a criminal referral against the former National Institutes of Health scientist and the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
How contempt of Congress works
U.S. law prohibits someone from willfully failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the Senate or House of Representatives, whether it is for documents or testimony.
Originally, the upper and lower chambers used their legislative powers to enforce subpoenas. In 1857, lawmakers voted to criminalize noncompliance and, by the 1930s, criminal contempt was the main way they enforced their subpoena power, Congress’s website explained.
While there is a process in which the Sergeant-at-Arms of the respective chamber would physically arrest the person, Paul’s resolution specifically seeks a criminal referral.
Therefore, in this case, the committee’s vote is the first step in a process where the goal of lawmakers is to refer the case to the Department of Justice, which would then present the contempt citation to a grand jury and attempt to prosecute the individual criminally. If convicted, that person would face between one and 12 months in prison and a potential fine of up to $100,000.
Prior contempt of Congress resolutions
The backstory:
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved six criminal contempt of Congress citations since 2019. Only two of the six instances led to the Department of Justice seeking and receiving an indictment, against Peter Navarro and Stephen Bannon, both of whom were convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Prior to the Fauci vote, the last time the Senate voted on a contempt of Congress was against Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre after he failed to comply with a subpoena from the Senate HELP Committee. That was the Senate's first criminal contempt in decades.
U.S. House of Representatives Press Gallery
What’s next for Dr. Fauci
The next step for getting a criminal referral from the committee’s vote to approve it to the prosecutor’s desk could get murky in Fauci’s case.
Normally, after the committee signs off on the referral, the entire chamber, whether it is the Senate or the House, would vote on whether to forward it to the Justice Department.
Because this is simply a referral and not legislation, lawmakers in the other chamber will never need to vote on it. If approved by whichever chamber was seeking the referral, the individual’s case would be sent to prosecutors.
Paul, however, told Fox News that he does not believe that the whole Senate would need to vote on Fauci’s referral, or any referral. He claimed the law governing how contempt referrals work mandates only that the President of the Senate, currently Vice President JD Vance, "shall certify" the committee’s referral and send the report to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Bypassing a vote by the full Senate would prevent the contempt attempt from stalling there because supporters of the referral may not have the 60 votes needed to get it passed.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from Reuters, Congress.gov, The Associated Press, and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. This story was reported from Orlando.