Gravel v. United States
United States Supreme Court
408 U.S. 606 (1972)
Senator Gravel (defendant) convened a subcommittee meeting where he read extensively from the classified Pentagon Papers, assisted by staffer Rodberg; Gravel and his staff separately arranged for Beacon Press to publish the documents. A grand jury investigating the disclosure subpoenaed Gravel, Rodberg, and the press contact Webber; Gravel moved to quash under the Speech or Debate Clause, and the First Circuit held Gravel and his aide could not be questioned about the subcommittee meeting itself, while third parties could be questioned about the meeting and the private republication was separately protected by common-law immunity.
Whether the Speech or Debate Clause prohibits inquiry into the legislative acts of congressional legislators and their aides when those acts constitute an integral part of the deliberative and communicative legislative process.