Reading Room Document

Presidential Authority to Direct the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Not to Comply With a Congressional Subpoena Seeking Testimony About Private Activities

Although there has been a practical construction, extending back to the earliest days of this Republic, of the respective powers of the Congress and the Executive, under which the President may order his subordinates in the Executive Branch to withhold information from the Congress when he deems such action to be in the public interest, it is difficult to justify application of this principle with respect to a congressional subpoena seeking an official's testimony regarding his private activities prior to the time of his close official connection with the President. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/20716/download.

February 19, 1952