The Story Of The Last Time The White House Sued The Target Of A Congressional Subpoena

May 6, 2019 11:56 a.m.

I wrote today about the broad pattern of the Trump administration stonewalling House Democrats’ oversight efforts, and how it suggests a deeper breakdown in the incentives and norms that have traditionally driven congressional oversight.

Trump’s decision to hire personal lawyers to sue businesses in a bid to stop them from complying with congressional subpoenas arguably stands out as the most aggressive example we’ve seen of Trump administration resistance.

But it’s not entirely unprecedented. Something similar has happened before, back in 1976.

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