WASHINGTON: A US appeals court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a historic dispute between the Trump administration and the US House of Representatives over how much power Congress has to enforce subpoenas demanding testimony or documents.

Holding arguments by phone, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit considered whether a House committee can sue to enforce a subpoena for testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

“Disputes between the political branches about their institutional prerogatives have occurred since the founding, but lawsuits between them are a novel and unsanctioned tactic,” Hashim Mooppan, a Justice Department lawyer arguing for the Trump administration, told the court.—Reuters