Judgment Day? GOP On Edge As Congress Will Seize Phone Records From Jan. 6 (MSNBC)

[ItsjustMe]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s investigators are going after the phone records of some of their Republican colleagues looking for evidence they helped criminals compromise the Capitol. MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber reports on the update in the investigation. (This interview is from MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,

[sheshe2]

1. Oh, Boy!

[FBaggins]

2. May be tough to get... but that may not be the real plan

Could just be the visual of Republicans fighting to keep their records secret - leaving the impression that they have something to hide.

[stopdiggin]

3. my first thought

was as to the extent (and reach) of legal authority .. particularly against fellow members. There's got to be some solid debate on this?

and then - totally agree on your second point.

[FBaggins]

4. I'm sure that there will be quite a bit of debate (and likely lawsuits)

Congress (let alone an individual committee) is not a law enforcement body nor one with broad criminal investigatory powers.

Congress is on solid grounds when their investigations are clearly related to their legislative powers... but the further they get from that, the less likely a court is to enforce something like a subpoena. Even the FBI would have (has had) trouble related to Congressional phone records due to the speech and debate clause of the Constitution. Congress investigating itself gets around some concerns, but causes others (due process certainly)... particularly when it's effectively one party investigating another.

It will make for a very interesting thought problem.