WASHINGTON – Today, the Article III Project filed an amicus curiae brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to hear Navarro v. United States.

The brief asks the justices to review a D.C. Circuit ruling that good faith is no defense against contempt of Congress. It warns that the ruling lets Congress use criminal subpoenas as a weapon against Executive branch officials, undermines more than two centuries of negotiation between the co-equal branches, and puts officials at every level of government in danger of prison for good-faith decisions about Executive privilege.

“Democrats weaponized Congress to throw Dr. Peter Navarro in prison for standing up for President Trump’s Executive privilege in good faith,” said Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project. “The D.C. Circuit’s ruling turns every congressional subpoena into a criminal trap. Executive officials must guess how a court would rule on questions no court has ever answered, and if they guess wrong, they go to prison. The Supreme Court must take this case and end this lawfare.”

From the amicus brief: “If left undisturbed, the D.C. Circuit’s holding that an Executive branch official can violate 2 U.S.C. § 192 (contempt of Congress) via a good-faith invocation of Executive privilege threatens to upset a centuries-old constitutional practice and subject Executive officials to unjust criminal liability. [...] If good-faith is no defense to a Section 192 charge, Executive officials are left in the lurch. When attempting to protect the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive in the face of Congressional demands, they are forced to predict how a court will resolve their claims, but they have no law to guide them. If they predict wrong, they go to prison. Such a result is deeply unfair. [...] This Court should grant certiorari to explain that an Executive official does not violate Section 192 when he refuses to comply with a Congressional demand based on a good faith assertion of executive privilege.”

The Article III Project (A3P) was founded by veteran GOP operative and attorney Mike Davis, who, after helping win the Senate confirmation battles of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, developed the reputation as a “take-no-prisoners conservative eager to challenge the left with hardball tactics,” as reported in The New York Times.‍‍

A3P supports constitutionalist lawyers, judges, and other government officials. We fight for the security of our borders, the security of our elections, and the security of our God-given, inalienable rights. Davis previously served as Chief Counsel for Nominations to Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and led the Senate confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a record number of circuit court judges.

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