Thursday, October 3, 2019

Can the House Sergeant at Arms arrest people?

I've heard Hartmann say that the Congressional Sergeant at Arms (SAA) can only arrest people on Capitol property. S/he can't arrest people otherwise, so if Dumpsters refuse to show up at Congress then no deal. And then there's House contempt powers. It appears the SAA can indeed arrest those charged with inherent contempt. Unfortunately this has been rarely used and would require a lot of Dem gumption to use it, which is questionable. Criminal contempt has to be referred to a US Attorney, and they can and have blocked enforcement. And civil contempt, which can be contested by the Executive Branch.

And this

"A third alternative is 'inherent contempt,' which is when the House or Senate conducts its own summary proceedings and cites the offender for contempt. The accused can be incarcerated, although imprisonment may not extend beyond the end of the current session of Congress. But this path has not been used since the mid-1930s."

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