IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 111 

To establish defiance of a congressional subpoena for testimony or documents 

by the President as an impeachable high crimes and misdemeanor within 

the meaning of Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 21, 2020 

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut submitted the following concurrent resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

To establish defiance of a congressional subpoena for testimony or documents by the President as an impeachable 

high crimes and misdemeanor within the meaning of 

Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution. 

Whereas the congressional power to investigate and oversee 

the executive branch is a cornerstone of separation of 

powers and necessary to expose and deter executive lawlessness, corruption, fraud, waste, and other serious 

abuses; 

Whereas Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously observed, ‘‘Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants; 

the electric light the most efficient policeman’’; 

Whereas due process requires that the law warn before it 

strikes, the House of Representatives has voted articles 

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of impeachment against three Presidents, one Cabinet officer, one Senator, one Supreme Court Justice, and fourteen subordinate Federal judges without clarifying the 

meaning of ‘‘high crimes and misdemeanors’’ to give fair 

warning to the President, Vice President, and other civil 

officers of the United States; 

Whereas the congressional power of oversight is the power 

preservative of all other congressional authorities; 

Whereas the slowness of judicial adjudications of executive 

privilege or state secrets invocations by the President to 

resist a congressional subpoena is inconsistent with the 

political time frame in which impeachment operates; 

Whereas the congressional powers of investigation or oversight of the executive branch are crippled without documents and testimonies from executive branch officials; 

Whereas the House Judiciary Committee voted an article of 

impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon for 

failing to produce documents and things demanded by 

duly authorized Committee subpoenas pursuant to the 

sole power of impeachment vested by the Constitution in 

the House of Representatives; 

Whereas in pursuit of any legitimate legislative objective, 

Congress is authorized to investigate and to oversee the 

executive branch and to impose sanctions for contempt of 

its processes; 

Whereas legitimate objectives include determinations of 

whether laws have been violated, whether they have been 

properly enforced, whether new laws are needed, or 

whether funds should be appropriated or withheld; 

Whereas Congress is endowed with independent constitutional 

authority to determine whether presidential defiance of a 

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•HCON 111 IH 

congressional subpoena constitutes an impeachable high 

crime and misdemeanor without a court adjudication of 

any claimed executive privilege, state secrets, or other defense; 

Whereas Congress possesses all the contempt powers of Article III courts; 

Whereas Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln 

recognized that each branch of government has independent authority to interpret the Constitution within 

their respective spheres of power; 

Whereas the United States Supreme Court has never opined 

on whether executive privilege may be invoked to block 

the congressional power of investigation; 

Whereas in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), the 

Court subordinated the privilege to the needs of a single 

criminal prosecution; 

Whereas the importance of congressional oversight to our 

constitutional dispensation and separation of powers is 

orders of magnitude greater than prosecution of a single 

criminal case; 

Whereas the Nixon tapes precedent mandates that executive 

privilege is subservient to legislative oversight of the executive branch; and 

Whereas the absence of a specific definition of an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor invites the appearance 

or actuality of partisan exercises of the impeachment 

power which subverts its legitimacy and deters its use: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), 

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1 SECTION 1. DEFINING PRESIDENTIAL DEFIANCE OF A CON2 GRESSIONAL SUBPOENA AS AN IMPEACH3 ABLE HIGH CRIME AND MISDEMEANOR. 

4 Congress declares that a President, Vice-President, 

5 or Civil Officer’s deliberate disobedience and defiance of 

6 a congressional subpoena for testimony or documents in 

7 pursuit of Congress legislative or oversight function may 

8 constitute an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor 

9 for purposes of Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution 

10 of the United States. 

11 SEC. 2. EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE. 

12 If a President refuses to comply with a congressional 

13 subpoena under the invocation of executive privilege, the 

14 failure to engage in good faith by properly asserting that 

15 privilege with factual and legal specificity shall be taken 

16 as evidence for finding disobedience and defiance of a con17 gressional subpoena under section 1 of this concurrent res18 olution. 

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