Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Two different pieces to my last post:

Courts have the inherent authority to address contempt of court. If a prosecutor, for example, gets on the wrong side of a judge, the judge can find him or her in contempt of court without needing one of the prosecutor's colleagues to file charges. I don't see a reason why Congress could not send lawyers to a federal court to ask the court to enforce a subpoena, or why the court couldn't hold the subject in contempt for a failure to comply.

The DOJ is a part of the Executive Branch, but every DOJ lawyer swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Not to represent the President -- to uphold the Constitution. If the President wants to act in a way that has no basis in the law -- e.g., telling someone to ignore a valid subpoena -- I would think that DOJ has an obligation, at the very least, to test that position in the courts, rather than just deciding that the President gets to make up the law. Cf. Marbury v. Madison.

Can't Barr be impeached?