Veteran congressional investigations counsel James Hamilton of Morgan Lewis doubts whether the House could enforce a subpoena of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s personal e-mail server, as it has suggested it would like to do in probing the 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
Enforcement would depend on gaining the approval of a federal court, Hamilton and Morgan Lewis associate Raechel Anglin write. But faced with Clinton’s attorneys’ assertion that they personally have read every e-mail to ensure that all government-related documents have been produced, it seems unlikely a court in a civil action would find that the House can demonstrate a legitimate legislative purpose, the authors conclude.