no, executive privilege was not an issue. there was no conversation or communication with the president being sought. they were asking for documents relating to fast and furious which was strictly doj documents. holder had zero grounds to with hold them.
Nonsense. President Obama asserted the privilege. But here’s the interesting part: The committee, and then the full congress, voted contempt of congress. And then…nothing. Congress failed to follow through.
So you see, this whataboutistic comparison of Bannon to Holder is a fail.
not certain. its a bad case for a test. but what happened to congress suing in court to test the claim before criminal charges were bought? there was a civil remedy. the charge by doj was premature as not all remedies were exhausted. still, its a bad case for a test since bannon was not in the government and his claim of privilege is an oddity. he’ll likely lose the appeal for that reason.
though its a loser, he’d be better served questioning where congress gets the power to force a private citizen to appear before it and testify to anything. they don’t have oversite authority over private citizens.
Congress isn’t under any obligation to “test their claim.”
You’re right that under “normal” circumstances, that’s what would happen - because in “normal” circumstances, any claims of privilege are coming from the sitting President - who would then be very unlikely to bring charges for contempt.
Bannon and the other guy have the bad luck claiming privilege against both a hostile Congress AND a hostile Executive.
but will courts see it that way or will they say the civil remedy should have been exhausted first? its a bad case for that test. courts may not take it for that reason. they don’t typically like bad vehicles. and in that event, the conviction sticks. makes for a horrible precedent.
its still a better argument than privilege in this case. i know they’ve taken that power, and used it. but its not based on any constitutional authority they were granted.