Rushing headlong into separation of powers concerns, Bragg is asking the judiciary to restrain a congressional investigation with a valid (though not compelling) legislative purpose. He was never going to succeed with a judge willing to play the matter straight.

He did not succeed with Judge Vyskocil, as predicted by a reader directly involved on the GOP side during the Trump judicial confirmation wars. The judge rejected Bragg’s request in no uncertain terms. Indeed, she threw his words — and those chronically employed by Trump’s enemies — back at him in the very first paragraph of her decision:

The subpoena [for testimony by Pomerantz] was issued with a “valid legislative purpose” in connection with the “broad” and “indispensable” congressional power to “conduct investigations.” It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.