Updates on Developments in Campaign Finance, Lobbying & Government Ethics Law
Earlier today, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s “Oversight Plan” was published. The Oversight Plan provides a very useful roadmap of the Committee’s investigative priorities and should be seen as a fair warning to the industries and companies identified in the plan.
In a client alert today, we review…
Continue Reading The House Oversight Committee Investigative Agenda for the Next Two Years Highlights Likely Private Sector Targets for Congressional Investigations
Financial institutions are consistently targets of congressional oversight interest. In the last Congress, House and Senate committees held hearings with, demanded documents from, requested interviews with, and hosted briefings from a number of bank and non-bank financial institutions regarding a variety of issues. In a recent client alert, we…
Continue Reading Financial Institutions and Congressional Investigations – 2020 into 2021
Recently, the Senate adopted a power-sharing agreement providing some contours for organizing the equally divided body. As we have discussed previously, such agreements are very rarely needed. The Senate has only faced a 50-50 partisan split a handful of times. The most recent instance, in 2001, prompted the first power-sharing…
Continue Reading Senate Subpoena Power Under the 2021 Power-Sharing Agreement
In recent months, we have highlighted key developments on Capitol Hill and discussed the implications of the change in Administration on the pace and focus of congressional investigations. With a Democratic majority now in both the House and the Senate, investigations targeting the private sector are primed to take center…
Continue Reading Congressional Investigations with a Democratic House and Senate
As the calendar turns from 2020 to 2021, we are taking stock of congressional investigations over the past two years, and assessing events in the recent weeks that help to shed light on the likely trajectory for congressional investigations in 2021.
On Monday, August 31, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upended more than a decade of district court precedent and deprived—at least for the moment—the U.S. House of Representatives of its ability to seek civil enforcement of subpoenas. In Committee on the Judiciary …
Continue Reading D.C. Circuit’s McGahn Ruling Eliminates Key House Option for Subpoena Enforcement
Understandably, much of the commentary following the release of the Supreme Court’s blockbuster decision in Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP has focused on the impact of the Court’s ruling on the long-running quest for the President’s tax returns and other financial records. Buried in the Court’s opinion, however, is an…
Continue Reading The Supreme Court’s Mazars Decision Contains a Significant Suggestion That Congress May Be Bound by the Attorney-Client Privilege in Congressional Investigations
In a unanimous ruling, the D.C. Circuit shed new light this week on the applicability of key federal criminal statutes on proceedings before the Office of Congressional Ethics (“OCE”). While largely removing the prospect of criminal obstruction liability for parties responding to inquiries from OCE, the court’s opinion is…
Continue Reading D.C. Circuit Rules Obstruction of Office of Congressional Ethics Not a Crime, but Questions and Risks Remain
As we reported in our prior client advisory on the wave of investigations to follow the pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act established three new bodies to conduct oversight and investigations on pandemic-related issues. Separately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a special committee to conduct additional…
Continue Reading Congressional Pandemic Oversight Bodies Begin to Take Shape
Last month, we highlighted congressional efforts to ensure that Congress is able to continue conducting the business of the American people during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. After weeks of halting progress, those efforts took an important step forward this morning with the release of a proposed resolution that would temporarily…
Continue Reading House Leaders Push Ahead with Proposal for Virtual Oversight
