The House Judiciary Committee asked a federal appeals court to reexamine its decision not to enforce a subpoena for testimony from former White House lawyer Don McGahn.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a 2-1 decision last week that said McGahn does not have to comply with a House subpoena, overruling a lower court decision.
The Democratic-led committee asked on Friday for the full court to rehear the case.
“The Committee’s petition argues that the panel’s ruling misread binding precedent and — if allowed to stand — would severely undermine the House’s ability to perform its constitutional functions as a check on the Executive Branch,” Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a statement.
“Two of the three judges on the panel strongly suggested that they would reject President Trump’s claim of ‘absolute immunity’ if they were able to reach the merits of the case. The full Court should promptly rehear this case and make clear, once and for all, that White House aides cannot ignore subpoenas from Congress,” the New York Democrat added.
The panel sought to obtain testimony from McGahn in April relating to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but the White House blocked him from complying with the subpoena.
Democrats viewed a potential testimony from the former White House counsel as important to the impeachment process despite the Ukraine-related articles of impeachment centering around events that occurred after McGahn left the White House. Trump was acquitted by the GOP-led Senate last month.
The case could also be appealed to the Supreme Court.
