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 v. McGahn, the court
congressional investigations
The Supreme Court’s Mazars Decision Contains a Significant Suggestion That Congress May Be Bound by the Attorney-Client Privilege in Congressional Investigations
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 easily overlooked aside regarding the…
GAO Set To Launch Flurry of COVID-19 Related Audits
The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), often referred to as Congress’ watchdog, is ramping up its oversight activities in preparation for an influx of investigations into fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of funds distributed in Congress’s $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). The GAO recently signaled its intent to investigate a…
Interacting with the Government During the Pandemic: Compliance Blind Spots for Corporations and Executives
The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are reverberating in every sector of the global economy, from life sciences to transportation, retail to manufacturing, financial services to sports and entertainment. As federal, state, and local governments attempt to blunt the pandemic’s public health and economic effects, many companies are frantically working with government to seek the…
Drug Pricing Investigations in the 116th Congress
Consistent with popular predictions and our prior posts, Congress made drug pricing a key item on its investigative agenda in the first year of the 116th Congress. Several factors contributed to the uptick in congressional drug pricing oversight activity, including the elevation of new Democratic chairs in the House with longstanding interests in drug…
Are You Ready For Your Congressional Investigation?
If the current polls and predictions are accurate, the Democratic party is poised to take control of the House of Representatives next year, for the first time since 2010. Congressional investigations thrive in divided government, and Democratic leaders in Congress are already promising a new wave of investigations.
My new article in Law360 examines the…
House of Representatives Seeks to Strengthen Subpoena Enforcement Dramatically
In late October, the House of Representatives quietly approved a bill that would dramatically strengthen Congress’s procedures for enforcing congressional subpoenas. In adopting the bill, the bipartisan leadership of the House Judiciary Committee highlighted the challenges that Congress faces in obtaining materials from executive branch agencies. Significant portions of the bill, however, apply to all…
Rep. Gowdy Plans Deeper Oversight
The new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Representative Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), outlined his plans for the Committee last week. As we expected, Mr. Gowdy said that he would pursue more methodical investigations. Noting that hearings are “an inefficient way to gather facts,” Mr. Gowdy said that the Committee would…
Grassley Defends Congressional Oversight; House Democrats Turn to Statutory Oversight Authority
The Trump administration’s efforts to curtail congressional oversight of executive branch agencies by individual Members of Congress, including ranking Democratic Members of Committees, ran into significant opposition from an unlikely source: Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Grassley’s strong reaction is consistent with his role as perhaps Congress’s…
The Gowdy Era of Congressional Investigations
With the announcement by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) that he plans to resign from Congress on June 30, it appears increasingly likely that Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) will become the next Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the House’s powerful watchdog committee that has very broad investigative jurisdiction. Although a final…