09-20-2011, 11:13 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Cape Cod Massachusetts
Posts: 1,427
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Honus
I believe that is incorrect. Congress has subpoena power, which means they can compel witnesses to appear. What they can't do is compel the witness to incriminate himself. It appears that if Congress serves this Solyndra guy with a subpoena, he will show up and refuse to answer questions on the ground that his answers may incriminate him. Then, if he is immunized, the risk of incrimination goes away, the Fifth Amendment becomes irrelevant, and he has to testify or be held in contempt of Congress. If he lies under oath, he will get prosecuted, like that other famous immunized witness, Oliver North.
Or at least that's how I think it works.
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In some ways particularly with respect to power it is very much analogues to a grand jury. Of course the procedures are different mainly because of the secrecy element of the grand jury, but when you're subpoenaed you’re pretty much limited in your options.
In the early 1950’s the House un-American Activities Committee had a number of Contempt of Congress prosecutions that ended with convictions and punishments of some sort
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