Former Vice President Mike Pence's faulty reasoning for resisting Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's subpoena has found its way to Pence's conservative defenders, perhaps with some guidance from his political advisers. Regrettably, he and they misconceive the application of the U.S. Constitution's "speech or debate" clause to a criminal investigation and have the constitutional tail wagging the dog.
The "tail" is slim legal grist misused to conceal Pence's crucial testimony from a grand jury. The dog that flailing tail is trying to shake is the grand jury's search for truth about a self-serving president's apparent attempt to overturn the election and thus the Constitution.
