An impeachment inquiry ISN'T the only way for the House to get secret grand jury material, after all [View all]

[EffieBlack]

It’s been practically a mantra on DU, in the media, and elsewhere that Democrats MUST start impeachment because that's supposedly the only way for the House to obtain grand jury material.

Well, today, the House is scheduled to vote to authorize the Judiciary Committee Chairman to petition the court to obtain grand jury materials, on the basis that the Judiciary Committee is conducting hearings that are “preliminary” to a judicial proceeding and, therefore, a judge can disclose grand jury materials to them for this purpose. They actually quote the rule’s language in the bill to justify their request to obtain the materials even though an impeachment inquiry hasn’t been opened. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hres430ih/xml/BILLS-116hres430ih.xml

This is exactly the basis described by a DUer who’s tried to push back on the “impeachment’s the only way” fallacy, only to be met with uniformed arguments, hostility, alerts, attacks on her expertise, credibility, motives and even the length of time she’s been on DU.

It’s nice to see her (and others of us who read the law the same way - as it’s written) proven correct, by no less than Chairman Nadler, the Judiciary Committee and the House.