As Donald Trump vows to fight every congressional subpoena issued by House committees investigating his presidency and personal affairs, Democratic lawmakers and strategists are coming to grips with a new reality in which the subpoena might be obsolete.

“At this point, it’s just a piece of paper,” a former senior congressional investigative aide said. “It’s useless.”

Democrats have so far struggled to cobble together a unified strategy for enforcing their subpoenas while Trump, who will try to delay any disclosure of information until after the 2020 election, is still in office.

Some have proposed deploying an arcane measure called “inherent contempt” to fine or even jail Trump administration officials who defy subpoenas. Democratic House leadership hasn’t entirely ruled that out, though the optics of the House sergeant-at-arms going to the homes of Trump advisers, putting them in handcuffs and marching them to holding cells in the Capitol isn’t very palatable for some Democrats.