Fauci's Fifth Amendment invocation faces contempt vote test in Senate committee

Dr. Anthony Fauci's invocation of the Fifth Amendment before Congress is set to be challenged this week. A Republican-led committee plans to vote on holding him in contempt and referring the matter to the Justice Department. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is scheduled to convene Thursday to consider the contempt finding.

A contempt resolution could trigger an investigation into whether Fauci possessed a valid constitutional right against self-incrimination when he declined to answer numerous questions during a recent hearing. The hearing focused on his management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican senators, including Rand Paul, argue that a pardon issued to Fauci early last year by President Joe Biden disqualifies him from Fifth Amendment protections. A Senate resolution released Tuesday states that Paul deems Fauci's claims of privilege "unsupported."

However, some legal experts suggest Fauci had legitimate grounds to invoke the Fifth Amendment. This is due to the potential for state prosecutions and questions surrounding the validity of Biden's pardons raised by the Trump administration. Any testimony from Fauci could also have led to investigations into false statements, similar to those the current Justice Department has pursued against perceived adversaries of the Republican president.

The outcome of this situation could have ramifications beyond Fauci, as it presents complex questions regarding Congress's authority to compel testimony from individuals who have received pardons. "This is an important case because I think a lot of people anticipate that President Trump is going to issue similar pardons to many people in his administration who will end up being called before Congress, and the precedent here is important," said Mark Osler, a law professor and expert on pardon powers.

Fauci, a long-time NIH scientist and former top infectious-disease expert, departed the federal government in 2022 after more than five decades of service. He was among several individuals considered adversaries of Trump who received pardons from Biden in one of the Democratic president's final actions in office. The clemency covered actions from 2014 up to January 2025, the date the pardon was issued. Republicans on the Senate committee contend that the pardon eliminated the risk of criminal prosecution, leaving Fauci without a valid basis to claim the Fifth Amendment.

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This is an important case because I think a lot of people anticipate that President Trump is going to issue similar pardons to many people in his administration who will end up being called before Congress, and the precedent here is important.