Subpoena

I have been subpoenaed once in my life. There was a man who was suing a landlord in Salt Lake City for unlawful discrimination. The building in question was an old Victorian house on my street that had been converted to apartments. Since we were close to both the university and downtown there were many people who wanted to live in the neighborhood and the man who was suing the landlord wanted to move himself, his wife, and his little girl into the apartment. The landlord wouldn't rent to him because he had a little girl. She even had a sign in the yard outlining that policy but it was entirely illegal since it wasn't a seniors only apartment.

My involvement came about because an attorney for the client knocked on my door and asked if I remembered seeing that sign. I used to walk down the street daily so I definitely remembered the sign and said so. I also told the attorney that I would be happy to testify when and if it went to trial. I didn't need to worry about bad blood in the neighborhood because I had never met the landlord who didn't live on the premises anyway. Despite making my promise, the attorney had a process server come to my house and hand me a subpoena because subpoenas have the force of law behind them (the word means "under penalty")--so at least theoretically they have the force of law behind them. Now my lawyer friends always tell me that in theory everything is legal until it is tested in a court of law. So like the landlord who engaged in illegal discrimination based on age until she was challenged, all the sychophants who agreed to jobs with Trump are defying the law and refusing to appear before the congressional committees. This behavior is supposed to be punished with fines and jail. If nothing else, this process will set some boundaries for behavior that until now was assumed to be illegal but had not been challenged at the high federal level where it now sits.