House GOP chair threatens to slap Legal Aid union with contempt of Congress for dodging subpoena about ‘antisemitic’ resolution
A House Republican committee chairwoman threatened to haul leaders of a Legal Aid Society lawyers’ union before Congress Monday — and consider contempt proceedings — for dodging a subpoena related to the union’s adoption of an “antisemitic” resolution last year.
House Education and Workforce Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) accused Lisa Ohta, the president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, Local 2325 of the United Auto Workers, of having “materially impeded” the panel’s probe into the anti-Israel declaration.
“Local 2325 appears to have infringed on several statutory rights of its members through actions related to the adoption of the ‘Resolution Calling for a Cease-fire in Gaza, an End to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, and Support for Workers’ Political Speech,’” Foxx wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Post.
“Should Local 2325 fail to comply with the subpoena, the Committee may take further action, including by bringing Local 2325’s officers before the Committee or invoking one or more enforcement mechanisms.”
Congress may initiate criminal contempt proceedings against anyone who refuses to honor committee subpoenas or seek enforcement via a civil judgment that compels the offending party to respond.
In a March 25 letter to the committee, attorneys for the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation and Ohta’s personal legal counsel argued the subpoena violated union members’ free speech and association rights and was “vague and overbroad.”
“[T]he Committee’s true interest in this matter arises out of the Committee’s hostility to the content of the ALAA resolution, which not only renders the subpoena beyond the Committee’s legitimate authority but also violates the United States Constitution,” they wrote.
Leah Duncan, the financial secretary-treasurer for ALAA UAW Local 2325 said in a statement that the union “stands behind our resolution and the democratic processes that led to its overwhelming passage.”
“We are proud to be part of the growing movement of unions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine,” Duncan said. “We continue to condemn all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia, and reject the harmful rhetoric that conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”
The union for New York City lawyers in public defense firms had proclaimed last October that they “vehemently oppose the decades-long Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
An initial vote on the proclamation was tabled after some Legal Aid Society attorneys filed suit against the local union chapter.
Legal Aid itself denounced the resolution for its “coded antisemitic language and thinly veiled calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.”
But the union ultimately passed the resolution in a 1,067-570 vote on Dec. 19.
The committee subpoena sought minutes from a Nov. 14 meeting, which Foxx said was “rife with hostility toward and bullying of the Resolution’s opponents,” including four of its members who initially filed the suit.
Those lawyers also faced a threat of expulsion before union officers went ahead and authorized the anti-Israel declaration for a full membership vote the following month.
Foxx stressed that the request for the meeting minutes did not violate the First Amendment was necessary to make future “legislative changes to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to enhance the statutory rights of rank-and-file union members.”
“The Supreme Court has never held that the First Amendment invalidates a congressional subpoena, instead it has explained that a First Amendment privacy interest is not unassailable and must be balanced against the congressional need for information,” she also said.
Foxx did not set a new deadline for complying with the follow-up request on the subpoena.
Ohta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
