GOP Pennsylvania Governor Candidate Doug Mastriano Sues Jan. 6 Panel

Mimi Nguyen LySeptember 2, 2022

Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor, filed a lawsuit against the Jan. 6 committee on Thursday, seeking to block the panel from compelling him to sit for a deposition.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington. Attorneys for Mastriano, who is currently a senator in the Keystone State, argued that the Jan. 6 panel does not have the authority to conduct compelled depositions because it is unable to comply with the House Regulations for the Use of Deposition Authority (Deposition Regulations).

“Central to this issue is the fact that [the Jan. 6 committee] lacks a Ranking Minority Member or any members designated by the minority party,” the filing reads.

The lawsuit acknowledged that courts have previously ruled that, despite this deficiency, the Jan. 6 committee could still issue subpoenas. But it argued that Mastriano’s case is different because “no Court” has ever been asked to rule on whether the Jan. 6 committee has the authority to conduct depositions, by examining whether it is in compliance with the Deposition Regulations, which require the ranking minority member to take certain actions.

Defendants in the lawsuit are identified as the Jan. 6 committee itself, as well as each of its 13 members, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

No ‘Ranking Minority Member’

According to the lawsuit, the Jan. 6 committee “has no members designated by the Republican Conference” because Pelosi had, in appointing the 13 members to the panel in July 2021, rejected the proposed committee members nominated by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Attorneys added: “Because no members of the minority conference were included in the panel, nobody was designated as Ranking Minority Member.”

The resolution that created the Jan. 6 committee, H.R. 503, which was passed in June 2021, did not explicitly grant Pelosi the authority to designate the Ranking