Carl Levin is a Michigan Democrat who spent 35 years in the United States Senate, serving through the tenures of six American presidents. As someone thoroughly acclimated to service in both majorities and minorities in the Senate, it is probably safe to say that he is familiar with the minutiae of the powers and procedures available to that body. On May 7 he published an opinion piece in The New York Times urging the House of Representatives, if necessary, to exercise one power that is available to both chambers of Congress: the power to hold those who disobey the legislature’s lawful orders (in the form of constitutionally authorized subpoenas) in contempt of Congress, and specifically the power to find them in “inherent contempt” and jail them.
Levin first recounts the Trump administration's now-routine refusal to honor lawfully issued congressional subpoenas and requests, most recently exemplified by the White House's refusals to release the full unredacted Mueller report; to permit testimony from the special counsel himself regarding the true findings of his investigation into Trump’s and his family’s relationship to the Russian Federation; and to respond to calls for the mandatory disclosure of Trump’s income taxes.