History Main / HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee

* Many fans of professional sports games that have teams in different states (baseball, football, etc.) wonder why the Senate (or House for that matter) would get involved in sports scandals, such as the steroid/HGH scandal in baseball in the mid-2000s. Since they make the rules (hey, it's ''supposed'' to be their job), they have determined that sports fall under their jurisdiction of "commerce across state lines."

* This was the focus of an entire episode of ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'', which combined the elements of a ClipShow and a TakeThat directed at several current members of Congress, including UsefulNotesTedKennedy (who orchestrated the whole thing), Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Trent Lott, Orrin Hatch, Phil Gramm, Richard Shelby, and Strom Thurmond. Nick and Johnny were arguing about the show's violent content, and after the Senate actually ruled in their favor, Kennedy - who opposed that ruling - went nuts, beat the crap out of most of the rest of the Senate, and then got ''his'' ass kicked by Wrestling/SteveAustin. (It's a weird show.)

* Also happened to Opus in ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty''; he ends up literally getting labelled a liberal (multiple times..)

* ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'': In chapter 22 the main characters have to come before a Government committee to explain what happened in Tokyo-3 during the attack of [[{{Robeast}} Matarael]].

* One of the earliest examples is 1943's ''Film/GovernmentGirl'', which oddly enough is a romantic comedy. Elizabeth "Smokey" Alland is a secretary who falls in love with her boss Ed, a Detroit auto exec brought to Washington to oversee wartime production of bombers. When Ed's conduct in appropriating a shipment of steel to build a factory results in him being hauled before a Senate subcommittee, Smokey gives a RousingSpeech in which she tells the senators that Ed did what he had to do as part of the war effort to crush the Axis.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' opens with Commander Shepard in lockdown for their actions during ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. These include working with a terrorist group and (if the last DLC mission was purchased) [[spoiler: destroying an entire batarian star system]] for the purposes of delaying the invasion of genocidal AbusivePrecursors. By the time the actual "tribunal" rolls around, however, said invasion is well underway and the Committee spends what screentime they have begging Shepard for answers. [[spoiler: Then a Reaper appears practically on top of them...]]

* The Trooper in ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has to answer questions from the Republic Senate's armed services committee at several points.

* The victim of the first contract in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney''. The Swing King was a local celebrity and entrepreneur throughout the '80s and '90s until a Ferris wheel in his park collapsed due to negligence and killed 36 people. Swing King went to court but was cleared of all charges. However, the accident cost him his reputation, his fortune, and his trophy wife as a result.
* One of these is a FramingDevice for ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'' (the other is a documentary) where a senate committee interrogates John Donovan over his aiding Lincoln Clay in his gang war. [[spoiler: Except that this is what Donovan wants so that he can murder a senator for his part in [[WhoShotJFK Kennedy's assassination]], which is also why he orchestrated the events of the game.]]
* In one of [[BunglingInventor Cave]] [[MadScientist Johnson's]] many CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker messages in ''{{VideoGame/Portal 2}}'', he mentions being dragged before one of these in 1968 regarding some astronauts who went "Missing" in his employ.
* The third installment of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' has the protagonists investigated by a Congressional committee hearing.

* This was the focus of an entire episode of ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'', which combined the elements of a ClipShow and a TakeThat directed at several current members of Congress, including Ted Kennedy (who orchestrated the whole thing), Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Trent Lott, Orrin Hatch, Phil Gramm, Richard Shelby, and Strom Thurmond. Nick and Johnny were arguing about the show's violent content, and after the Senate actually ruled in their favor, Kennedy - who opposed that ruling - went nuts, beat the crap out of most of the rest of the Senate, and then got ''his'' ass kicked by Steve Austin. (It's a weird show.)
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series has Dogbert persuading Congress to consolidate all holidays into a single holiday -- Dogbert Day. It happens in the comic strip a few times too, namely when Dogbert becomes a Supreme Court nominee.

* The modern TropeCodifier in the United States is probably the House Un-American Activities Committee, whose hearings on alleged Communist infiltration of American government and society were widely televised and played a major role in shaping the RedScare of the '40s and '50s.[[note]]While UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy has become the modern poster-child for the era's Red-baiting, and also made use of televised hearings to boost his profile, he was a Senator and officially unaffiliated with HUAC - though he was friend and mentor to several of its hatchet-men.[[/note]] Notably, their investigations into Communist presence of Hollywood led to a great deal of attention, if only due to the well-known movie stars, directors and writers called to testify. More substantially, their hearings on State Department aide Alger Hiss for espionage proved a major career boost for UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, then an obscure Congressman from California. Eventually in the 1960s, this committee called in the Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and instantly regretted it with those two making a mockery of the proceeding and ''nothing'' the Committee could do could either stop or intimidate them.

[[caption-width-right:350:The British Ministry of Defence works too.]]

* In ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', Yang Wen-li is dragged into an Inquiry committee by the Free Planets Alliance's High Council without any legal basis, ostensibly over his actions during the civil war and his personality. In practice, it's an excuse by the Council to discredit him, fearing his growing influence at the expense of doing their own jobs. Yang, however, sees through the pretensions [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and grills them in turn]], even threatening to resign if not for the Empire's invasion.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* In ''Super TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'', one of the curse cards ("traps" in ''Super Munchkin''[='s=] terminology) is a congressional hearing, which is rather costly on the victim.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, the director of the Republic Intelligence Service is called to testify before a closed session of the Intelligence Committee. He tells them very little, much to the chagrin of the politicians involved.

* ''Series/Braindead2016'': Learning that his sister is being subjected to EnhancedInterrogationTechniques for information on alleged terrorism, Luke Healy attempts to contact the FBI director to get him to release Laurel. When the director denies holding Laurel, Luke uses his power to summon the director to an impromptu meeting of the intelligence committee.

* There's several of these in ''Series/{{Alias}}'': in one instance, various characters are called to a committee convened after Irina Derevko, former leader of one of the series' many {{nebulous evil organization}}s, seemingly broke her arrangement with the government; in another, Arvin Sloane, was called before a committee for the same reason. In both cases, the characters are able to escape punishment thanks to behind-the-scenes extortion by other parties.

* Plays a climactic role ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', as Nikita herself is called before a Senate committee to give her account of her role in the U.S. president's assassination and subsequent rescue (it's complicated, hence the committee), and essentially her entire life as an assassin. However, this is ultimately more theater than anything: the Senate had privately obtained a more unvarnished version of the truth some days earlier, and what Nikita is there to do is sell a palatable version of it to the public. Ultimately, it works out for Nikita, as she is able to relate what she considers to be the shameful truth of her circumstances to the world at large, only to find that the bulk of the public considers her good and heroic regardless of her history.

* According to the Food Network show ''Food: Fact Or Fiction?'', Gus Grissom and John Young ended up hauled before a subcommittee after the former smuggled a corned beef sandwich into the Gemini capsule. In a micro-gee environment, bread crumbs float everywhere and can present a massive hazard if they get into delicate machinery or an air filter.

* ''Fanfic/{{RWBYDestinyOfRemnant}}'': In Chapter 27's flashbacks, Headmaster Ozpin was hauled before the Vale Council to answer for the events that had happened in Volumes 1 - 3.