Ralph de la Torre, the soon-to-depart leader of bankrupt hospital operator Steward Health Care, is suing the Senate committee that lodged contempt of Congress allegations against him, claiming that the lawmakers are unlawfully violating his constitutional rights.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., names the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions as a defendant, as well as each of the committee’s individual members, aside from Senator Rand Paul, who abstained from the contempt votes.
The suit claims that the defendants are “collectively undertaking a concerted effort to punish Dr. de la Torre for invoking his Fifth Amendment right” not to incriminate himself, after de la Torre flouted a subpoena to testify in front of the Senate HELP committee at a hearing earlier this month on for-profit Steward’s financial downfall.
De la Torre argued that it would be “inappropriate” to appear before the committee amid Steward’s bankruptcy proceedings.
“Because such punishment is patently unconstitutional, this Court should grant the declaratory and injunctive relief necessary to stop it,” the lawsuit said.
The Senate HELP committee voted to approve criminal and civil contempt referrals for de la Torre in mid-September, before the full Senate unanimously moved to refer the criminal matter to the US Justice Department last week. If the Justice Department decides to prosecute the case and if de la Torre is found guilty, he could end up serving up to a year in prison.
In a statement, de la Torre’s counsel, William Burck — whose roster of former high-profile clients include Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former president George W. Bush, and Stephen Bannon — wrote that “no one can be compelled to testify when they exercise this right under these circumstances.”
“The Constitution, not the Senate, reigns supreme in this country,” Burck wrote.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, argue that the Fifth Amendment cannot be used as grounds to disregard a subpoena.
“Dr. de la Torre is not above the law,” Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate HELP committee, said before the committee’s contempt referral vote. “If you defy a congressional subpoena, you will be held accountable, no matter who you are or how well connected you may be.”
Stan M. Brand, an attorney who represented former Trump White House official Peter Navarro in a contempt of Congress case, said he expected the lawsuit to be quickly dismissed, calling it “a Hail Mary play by the witness, which has very little chance of succeeding — I would say no chance of succeeding.”
“Every time that someone has tried to sue the House or Senate to directly to challenge a congressional subpoena, the courts have said, ‘That that’s not the way this works,’” Brand said.
De la Torre announced over the weekend that he will step down from the helm of the company on Tuesday.
The lawsuit comes on the same day that the sale of six Steward hospitals in Massachusetts to nonprofit buyers are expected to go through, marking the effective end of the hospital operator’s business dealings in the state.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that the Justice Department has not yet responded to the Senate’s contempt referral.
Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.