Speech Or Debate Clause

In the United States Constitution Article I, Section 6, Clause 1, the Speech and Debate Clause declares that members of both houses of Congress:

The purpose of the Speech and Debate Clause is to protect members from being arrested by the President or other representatives of the Executive branch on a ploy to inhibit them from voting a specific way or taking actions with which he/she might hold an opposing view.

In court decisions this is more frequently referred to as the Speech or Debate Clause, rather than the Speech and Debate Clause. Overall, nearly 1,400 court decisions refer to this principle, including 44 decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) cited this as a defense against a subpoena by a Democrat prosecutor to compel him to answer questions under oath before an unusual special purpose grand jury in Georgia.

Prominent cases[edit]

In Fields v. Office of Johnson, 459 F.3d 1 (2006), the D.C. Circuit en banc narrowed the scope of the Speech or Debate Clause such that it not impeded lawsuits by Capitol staff based on alleged discrimination:

Fields v. Office of Johnson, 373 U.S. App. D.C. 32, 43-44, 459 F.3d 1, 12-13 (2006).

The Speech or Debate Clause “reflects the Founders’ belief in legislative independence.” Rangel v. Boehner, 785 F.3d 19, 23 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (citing United States v. Brewster, 408 U.S. 501, 524 (1972)).