Inherent Contempt doesn’t address any of that though.
It’s one of the reasons for the issue. Congress’s only pathway to directly enforce this, is a mess with no force behind it.
You’re not likely to “solve” the problems of votes and internal process in Congress either. As it is a fundamentally political body, built around voting and process.
What you’re talking about is fixing this specific process. Maybe creating a new one. Not an argument for using Inherent Contempt.
Why? What about it solves any of the issue?
The last time it was used the end result was the guy spent 10 days detained in a luxury hotel. He didn’t serve a day of it until after his court challenge wound its way through the Supreme Court. And in the end he had already destroyed the documents Congress had been seeking.
So why try this? Rather than trying a criminal charge, or civil case with significantly more weight behind it.
You can’t really do both simultaneously. But one of the things that came up in discussion on whether this might be necessary when dealing with Trump. Is that Congress might have to try the DOJ or the courts (maybe both) and fail first. In order to lay out a plausible legal argument for bringing back Inherent Contempt.
