9
Otherwise, any subpoenaed witness could decline to respond
and claim they had a good-faith belief that they need not
comply, regardless of how idiosyncratic or misguided that
belief may be. As the Supreme Court has colorfully put it, a
“subpoena has never been treated as an invitation to a game of
hare and hounds, in which the witness must testify only if
cornered at the end of the chase.” Helen Bryan, 339 U.S. at
331. “If that were the case, . . . the great power of testimonial
compulsion, so necessary to the effective functioning of courts
and legislatures, would be a nullity.” Id.
In the face of that authority, Bannon cites cases that do not
undermine Licavoli, much less to the degree required for this
panel to even consider departing from that decision.
Importantly, the cases Bannon cites do not address Section 192
or contempt charges at all, but instead interpret the word
“willfully” in other criminal statutes to require more than a
deliberate and intentional act. For example, in some criminal
statutes, “willful” conduct requires that the defendant act with
a “bad purpose,” meaning with “knowledge that his conduct
was unlawful.” Sillasse Bryan v. United States (“Sillasse
Bryan”), 524 U.S. 184, 191–92 (1998) (quotation omitted)
(interpreting 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1)(D), which criminalizes
unlawfully dealing in firearms without a license); Ratzlaf v.
United States, 510 U.S. 135, 140–50 (1994) (interpreting
31 U.S.C. §§ 5322, 5324, which prohibit willfully structuring
cash transactions for the purpose of evading reporting
requirements); United States v. Burden, 934 F.3d 675, 680,
689–93 (D.C. Cir. 2019) (interpreting the “willful[]” violation
of a provision prohibiting the export of defense articles without
a license). But that is at most a “general” rule. Sillasse Bryan,
524 U.S. at 191. As those same cases explain, “willful” “is a
‘word of many meanings,’” and “‘its construction is often . . .
influenced by its context.’” Ratzlaf, 510 U.S. at 141 (alteration
omitted) (quoting Spies v. United States, 317 U.S. 492, 497
(1943)); see also Sillasse Bryan, 524 U.S. at 191 (noting that