Start, as always, with a definition: “subpoena: [Latin, under penalty.] A formal document that orders a named individual to appear before a duly authorized body at a fixed time to give testimony.”
It seems simple enough. It implies that a penalty (trial, payment, or prison time) will follow any challenge to its orders. It says, out front and in order, that the person receiving such a document from a legally empowered body must make an appearance, when required, in order to answer questions and offer truths to the summoning body. It provides no opportunity for objection. It’s a must-do or suffer the consequences “under penalty.” Therefore, if I received such a summons I would be compelled, by law, to appear and make my knowledge shared knowledge.
This has not been the case during the past several years, especially in the case of Congress’ Committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the events of January 6, 2021. Person after person has ignored their subpoena, filed an objection to it, or gone on television to protest their “mistreatment” by the Committee. Some members of Congress, the United States collection of lawmakers which controls the appointed Committee, have been strongly opposed to being asked to testify. Some of those who have agreed to come in and be heard have simply stood behind the Fifth Amendment (which allows them not to speak). It would seem they don’t truly understand the implication of that choice, which declares them probably guilty of a crime. They don’t just not testify against themselves under the “take the fifth” response; they make it clear they understand their own wrongdoings.
What is going on here? How many of our elected officials are involved in a conspiracy to undermine the government they represent? How many actual constituents have they betrayed? Why haven’t there been more outraged reactions in this country calling for penalties (“under penalty,” remember)?
How little practical law is being utilized these days is the question I am asking. It would seem the four years of the previous Presidential regime has generated a new definition of “service to your country.” It has left lawmakers with a sense of personal safety under the law, a definition that doesn’t exist in print anywhere. I believe that the 2020 election was an honest and reasonable election, but I seem to exist in a growing minority. What I don’t, can’t, and won’t believe is that people who served the 45th President live with a safety net that provides them immunity from examination. It has been stated time and again that our elected officials are still just citizens, with the same rights and responsibilities as the rest of us. There is no special category for them in which they are above the law; they are, like the rest of us, equal citizens with no special rules or protections. If I am subject to a subpoena, so is my senator or representative. If I am compelled to honestly answer questions, so are they. This is a country of equals, not a land of authoritarians with special powers and protections.
It is time to fill the national courts with cases of obstruction by those people who suddenly think themselves to be “special” and “untouchable.” They’re neither of those things. If the courts won’t take them on and officially punish them, as plainly stated in the word “subpoena,” their constituents should have the right to recall them and replace them with law-abiding men and women. The slogan of the 45th President was “Make America Great Again.” That is doable by following the strictures of the laws of land. To hell with the Big Lie! Up with the Constitution and its supporters.
