What is contempt of Congress? Steve Bannon sentenced for refusing House subpoena

Former Trump special advisor Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison and issued a $6,500 fine after being found guilty of contempt of Congress. Bannon will remain free until his appeal attempts have been concluded.

Bannon was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress back in July and was sentenced by District Judge Carl Nichols on Friday. The charges relate to Bannon’s refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Contempt of Congress is used to prosecute those who intentionally interfere with the working of the legislative body. It allows Congress to hold individuals accountable for failing to comply with Congress’ legal functions.

The powers granted to Congress were summarised in Marshall v. Gordon (1917), which ruled that Congress has the power to “deal with contempt insofar as that authority was necessary to preserve and carry out the legislative authority given.”

The January 6 select committee had the power to issue a subpoena for information from Bannon, which he refused to provide. As such the committee voted last November to hold Bannon in contempt and the right-wing agitator was found guilty earlier this year.

Who else has been jailed for contempt of Congress?

As the trial drew to a conclusion in recent days, Bannon made a number of disparaging comments about the January 6 House select committee. The noted conspiracy-peddler claimed that he was the victim of a “show trial” and described Chairman Bennie Thompson as “gutless”.

Bannon has vowed to launch a “very vigorous appeals process” and added that his “great legal team” would be looking at “multiple areas of appeal”.

He will remain free until the appeal process has been concluded, but if unsuccessful he will become the first person jailed for contempt of Congress in decades. In 1961 Frank Wilkinson and Carl Braden, two activists, refused to testify before a House Un-American Activities Committee investigating supposed communist sympathies.

They were preceeded by a more famous case in which a group known as the ‘Hollywood Ten’ were sentenced to up to a year in prison for contempt of Congress. In 1947 a group of ten film writers and directors refused to appear before the same committee after being subpoenaed by the House. Hearings held chaired by Rep. J. Parnell Thomas sought to identify alleged Communist infiltration in the film industry.

The names of those in the Hollywood Ten were:

Those ten men refused to testify before the committee and in November 1947 the House of Representatives approved the charge of contempt against all ten and they were subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury.

A spate of appeals leading all the way to the Supreme Court followed, but the court declined to hear their case. Eight of those involved were sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of $10,000, while Dmytryk and Biberman received six months imprisonment.