meaner gene
Diamond Member
- Feb 11, 2017
- 21,909
- 18,125
Some committee chairs, either with committee approval, or alone can apply to the courts to grant a witness immunity. Upon application, the court must grant that immunity.
In order to solicit such testimony, the Select Committee has at times used .the device of granting immunity to witnesses pursuant to the relevant provisions (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Witness Immunity Act or 1970
The immunity grants were conferred by orders of the federal district
court upon application therefor by the Select Committee.
The specific section of the 1970 Act which controls the procedure
for granting immunity to witnesses testifying at congressional proceedings is 18 U.S.C. § 6005.
The court's conclusion, stated by Chief Judge Sirica, was:
[Iln this case, [the court's] duties are purely ministerial, and . . . any attempted exercise of discretion on its part, either to
deny the requests or to grant immunity with conditions, would be an
assumption of power not possessed by the Court.
