Former Vice President Mike Pence is getting set to fight a subpoena to testify before a grand jury about former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Politico is reporting.
The news outlet attributed the information to two sources, who said Pence is preparing to argue that his former role as president of the Senate shields him from certain demands by the Justice Department. They claim as president of the Senate, he was a member of the legislative branch and covered by the Constitution that protects congressional officials from legal cases related to their work.
The constitutional provision is known as the "speech or debate" clause.
Vice presidents are not senators. However, they can break tie votes in the Senate and are responsible for leading the electoral vote count every four years.
If Pence does testify it could put in jeopardy the separation of powers the Constitution aims at protecting, said Pence allies.
"He thinks that the 'speech or debate' clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature," said one of Politico's sources. "He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it."
The Associated Press reported Pence is the latest official in Trump's administration to be subpoenaed as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. However, the push for Pence's testimony is unique because he's the highest-ranking official known to have been summoned.
Complicating the issue is the fact that Pence's expected claim over the "speech and debate" clause could create a legal mess, Politico noted.
"It is admittedly a constitutionally murky area with no clear outcome," said Mark Rozell, a George Mason University political scientist. "Since there is a legislative function involved in the vice president presiding over the Senate, a court very well could decide that it must address the scope of the speech or debate privilege and whether it would apply in this case."
If Pence does follow through with the argument, it could take months to resolve the issue in court.
"I do think there's a plausible [speech or debate] argument here," said Josh Chafetz, a Georgetown University constitutional law professor. "And I'd be surprised if Pence doesn't eventually make it. After all, a lot of the action here took place in terms of arguments about how he should rule from the chair."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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