Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-715_febh.pdf
Page Number: 32.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

7 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

gory is to distinguish it because the subpoenas here are jus-
tified  only  as  incidental  to  the  power  to  legislate,  not  the 
power to punish libels or bribery.  In short, none of the ex-
amples  from  18th-century  colonial  and  state  history  sup-
port a power to issue a legislative subpoena for private, non-
official documents. 

C 
Given that Congress has no exact precursor in England 
or colonial America, founding-era congressional practice is 
especially informative about the scope of implied legislative 
powers.  Thus, it is highly probative that no founding-era
Congress  issued  a  subpoena  for  private,  nonofficial  docu-
ments.  Although  respondents  could  not  identify  the  first
such legislative subpoena at oral argument, Tr. of Oral Arg.
56, Congress began issuing them by the end of the 1830s. 
However, the practice remained controversial in Congress 
and this Court throughout the first century of the Republic. 

1 
In an attempt to establish the power of Congress to issue
legislative subpoenas, the Committees point to an investi-
gation  of  Government  affairs  and  an  investigation  under 
one  of  Congress’  enumerated  privileges.    Both  precedents 
are materially different from the subpoenas here.

In 1792, the House authorized a Committee to investigate
a failed military expedition led by General Arthur St. Clair. 
3 Hinds’ Precedents of the House of Representatives of the
United States §1725, pp. 79–80 (1907) (Hinds).  The Com-
mittee was “empowered to call for such persons, papers and
records as may be necessary to assist their inquiries.”  Ibid. 
But  the  Committee  never  subpoenaed  private,  nonofficial 
documents, which is telling.  Whereas a subpoena for Gov-
ernment  documents  does  not  implicate  concerns  about
property rights or the Fourth Amendment “right of the peo-
ple to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,