Word: subpoenaing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Already the recipient of a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for tapes relating to his role in Watergate, President Nixon collected another last week...
...Pentagon Papers in June of 1971; the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting of the Watergate matter and its endless sequels, from July 1972 to date; and the full-scale campaign by the Committee for the Reelection of the President later by then Vice President Spiro T. Agnew to subpoena "all documents, papers, letters, photographs, audio and visual tapes" and "all manuscripts, notes, tape recordings of communication," and "all drafts, copies and final drafts of stories, columns and/or reports" and "all writings and other forms of record, including drafts, reflecting or related to direct or indirect communications...
Both efforts to subpoena Post reporters failed, but not before major expenditures of energy and money. District Court Judge Charles Richey held that the First Amendment protected reporters against even having to appear at depositions in this civil action. And the Agnew subpoenas fell with the vice president. But the fight for freedom of the press is often exhausting and always expensive. The Washington Post spent close to $100,000 in legal fees to fight these subpoenas and a dozen lesser attempts to force Post reporters to divulge their sources. (Pursuit of the First Amendment freedom in the Pentagon Papers...
...this may be like leaving the fox in charge of the chicken coop. In 1972, the General Accounting Office reported 30 "apparent" violations of the law in the presidential race, but Justice followed up only four. Complains Comptroller General Elmer Staats, head of the GAO: "We do not have subpoena powers. We have to ride with whatever information we can develop through open records. And we cannot prosecute...
...Senate proposes creation of a fully independent federal election commission, with complete powers of subpoena, investigation and prosecution. It would have seven members plus the Comptroller General, whose 15-year term guarantees him a large measure of independence. The House, however, would leave enforcement up to the Justice Department...