Quote:
Originally Posted by aerovette
My understanding is that the House cannot issue legal binding subpoenas. No obligation to appear. What creepy Joe is about to learn however, is that the Senate issues actual subpoenas and if he thinks he doesn't have to appear, he should be prepared to be arrested. Not that he will be because Democrat...but he could/should be.
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If I understand it correctly (and there is always a chance I don't), on the average day, the House only has the power to issue "letters of request", which are expected to be taken seriously, but carry no legal penalty for a failure to comply. If the House votes to have an impeachment inquiry, they then obtain subpoena power. The only difference between a letter of request and a subpoena is that a subpoena DOES have legal consequences for a failure to comply.
So, since they never had the vote for an impeachment inquiry, they never had subpoena power, and these "subpoenas" they supposedly issued were only letters of request. Although the House Democrats and the media have been conflating the terms "letter of request" and "subpoena", technically they are legally very different, that difference seems like it would be important here.