(CNN) The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday will mark up a subpoena for acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, which Chairman Jerry Nadler says will be drafted so he has it in his back pocket if Whitaker won't answer the committee's questions.

Whitaker is scheduled to appear before the panel for a public hearing Friday. Nadler, a New York Democrat, said he had scheduled the subpoena markup "in an abundance of caution" to ensure Whitaker testifies and doesn't rely on executive privilege to avoid answering questions.

At left, Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. At right, acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker who is scheduled to appear before Nadler's committee on Friday.

"To be clear, I hope never to use this subpoena," Nadler said in a statement. "Weeks ago, we gave Mr. Whitaker a list of questions we hope to ask him about his communications with the White House and his refusal to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel's investigation. If he appears on time and ready to answer those questions, the subpoena will be entirely unnecessary."

The text of Nadler's subpoena has not been made public. It's likely to depend on how and if Whitaker responds to Nadler's letter sent last month asking him to inform the committee whether President Donald Trump plans to invoke executive privilege to avoid answering a host of questions.

"The committee will not accept your declining to answer any question on the theory that the President may want to invoke his privileges in the future," Nadler wrote. "The President should consider any matter involving assertion of executive privilege prior to your testimony. Short of a direct and appropriate invocation of executive privilege, I will expect you to answer these questions fully and to the best of your knowledge."