The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to approve subpoenas for conservative activist Leonard Leo and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow in its Supreme Court ethics probe.
The subpoenas were approved by 11 Democratic senators while no Republican senators voted. GOP members walked out of the committee room during the vote once it was clear that Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wouldn't allow votes on any GOP amendments.
Afterwards, Republicans argued that the subpoenas are invalid because of a procedural matter that meant the meeting should have ended at noon, but it ended two minutes after. GOP senators also said that because they walked out of the vote, there was no quorum present for the committee to conduct business.
The subpoenas may not help Democrats obtain the information they're seeking as they're unenforceable without 60 votes on the Senate floor and they would likely never achieve that threshold.
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