Opinion ID: 1943838
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Power of the Legislature to Punish for Contempt

Text: While no party seriously challenges the inherent and constitutional powers of the legislature to punish for contempt, we feel it necessary to set forth those powers briefly. The First Circuit Court of Appeal, in ASP, Incorporated v. Capital Bank & Trust Company, 174 So.2d 809 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1965), accurately outlined the parameters of legislative contempt power: We believe the following basic principles of our form of government should be noted and kept in mind in consideration of this matter. Our constitution provides in Article II, Section 1, LSA`The powers of the government of the State of Louisiana shall be divided into three distinct departmentslegislative, executive, and judicial.' And, Section 2 provides: `No one of these departments, nor any person or collection of persons holding office in one of them, shall exercise power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.' It is universally recognized that with the power to legislate there is inherent in the Legislature the power to conduct investigations, and that these investigations should be conducted solely as an aid to its consideration and determination of prospective legislation. The right of inquiry and investigation may be exercised by it as a body of the whole legislature, or the Legislature may delegate its investigative powers to a committee of less than the whole of the Legislature. ... In furtherance of the Legislature's right to investigate, the Legislature, or a committee designed by it, has the unquestionable right to require the attendance of anyone from whom it desires to obtain pertinent information. This right is exercised through the power of the subpoena and the subpoena duces tecum. ... In the exercise of the power of subpoena and subpoena duces tecum, the Legislature would be helpless and ineffective to command compliance with its order unless it has the power to punish for contempt or a method of instituting contempt proceedings. Equally inherent, then, with the power of subpoena is the power of the Legislature to punish for contempt. ... The broad and non-exclusive right to punish for contempt is provided in Article III, Section 11 of the Constitution of Louisiana.[ [3] ]... In addition to the constitutional provision, there is a statutory provision made for the punishment of contempt of the legislature or any committee constituted by it. This is found in LSA-R.S. 24:4-6. This too is non-exclusive. LSA-R.S. 24:4-6 is the State's counterpart of the statutory contempt procedure provided by Congress in 2 U.S.C. § 192.