After consulting with House Counsel Doug Letter, Tatelman said the assurance included the House Judiciary Committee, as well as any others involved in the impeachment probe.

“The case is now currently moot. The relief that Mr. Kupperman has sought has now been completely granted with the subpoena being withdrawn,” Tatelman said.

During a discussion on the House’s power of “inherent contempt,” which includes the power to detain recalcitrant witnesses, Leon mused about how realistic that possibility is, noting that it hasn’t been used in almost a century.

“Still have the jail in the basement?” the judge asked.

“We like to keep up appearances that we have a jail in the basement, so I won’t say anything to disabuse people of that notion,” Tatelman replied with a chuckle.

Kupperman’s attorneys argued that he faces a real possibility of a fine for contempt, something various Democratic lawmakers raised publicly in general terms earlier this year as a way of going after reluctant witnesses, but Tatelman said that sort of action by the House was also was fleetingly remote.

“It has never done so in the history of the United States,” he said.

Tatelman also said the House’s few contempt efforts have been directed to officials senior to Kupperman. “We haven’t been on a contempt spree, here,” the attorney said. He also said he wasn’t aware of Congress dropping a subpoena for a witness, then targeting them for contempt.

That prompted Leon to note that he’s taught congressional investigation law at Georgetown for nearly a quarter-century and couldn’t recall that ever happening.

“It’s a hard one to conjure,” the judge said.

Trump is also named as a defendant in Kupperman’s suit, which brought Justice Department attorneys into the case. They are also urging Leon to throw the case out without delving into the merits of the immunity arguments.

“I actually don’t have much to add to the House’s presentation, which I can report to the court is not a statement that I have ever made before,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Burnham said.

Burnham said that in light of an Office of Legal Counsel opinion upholding Trump’s immunity claim, it was entirely impossible that Kupperman would ever be criminally prosecuted for contempt of Congress. “That’s never going to happen,” Burnham said. “It could never happen.”

When Burnham offered to have another Justice Department lawyer come to the lectern to explain why Trump couldn’t be viably sued, Leon said it wasn’t necessary.

Kupperman’s lawyer, Chuck Cooper, said the House and Justice Department needed to convince the court the case was moot and they hadn’t foreclosed the possibility that his client could still be in jeopardy. Cooper proceeded to list various threats lawmakers had made about possible consequences for not complying with subpoenas.

“A contempt proceeding is a very real possibility given the repeated threats by the House,” Cooper said.

Cooper also noted that all Kupperman and Leon had to assure themselves that the subpoenas wouldn’t be reissued were the “naked statements” of House lawyers.

However, Leon suggested he couldn’t envision why the House would suddenly want to get the case back into court by reversing itself.

“I’m going to hold them to that,” the judge said. “They’ll be right back here in this courtroom.”

Leon did acknowledge that what politicians say can change. “The whims of political fortune tend to shift quickly,” he said.

The judge also signaled that he believes House leaders have made a strategic decision to try to shut down the litigation in front of him, even by making unusual forward-looking pledges not to come after Kupperman again.

“I don’t think they’re in a hurry to have this court, this particular court, address the merits of this case,” Leon said. “I don’t think they want that.”

During the argument session, Leon acknowledged complaints that he’s slow-walked the case, filed Oct. 25. Some observers noted that the pace of the case lagged the House’s aggressive schedule for impeachment proceedings, all but guaranteeing that the impeachment process would come to a head in the House before any ruling on Kupperman’s case.

However, the judge said he thought the timetable for legal briefs had been a quick one. He said he would “endeavor” to issue a ruling by the end of the year.

