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Happy Friday morning.

The Jan. 6 committee’s decision to subpoena five GOP members of Congress – including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – signals a new phase of political struggle on Capitol Hill. It presents Republicans and Democrats with a set of uncomfortable questions over the future of the institution. We’re in uncharted territory now, and no one knows how this will be resolved.

Let’s start with the basics: The Jan. 6 committee issued a set of subpoenas Thursday for testimony from McCarthy, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) over their interactions with former President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials before, during and after the insurrection. This House Republican quintet has been unwilling to cooperate with the select committee on a voluntary basis, which Democrats say leaves the panel no choice but to try to compel their testimony by subpoena. The possibility of subpoenas has been bandied about for a while now, although it was still stunning to see it happen.

Yes, it’s unprecedented to subpoena members of Congress in a non-ethics case, there’s no question about that. Or to issue subpoenas to multiple members as part of a group. But you know what else is unprecedented? An insurrection at the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Also unprecedented were the efforts by Trump and his inner circle to pressure state and local officials to change the results of the 2020 election, as well as the involvement of members of Congress in that episode. So the “unprecedented” argument lands light with Democrats on Capitol.

The argument that the select committee is a “sham,” voiced by McCarthy and other Republicans, is also suspect, considering the House voted for the panel’s creation and granted it subpoena power. Republicans had negotiated a deal to set up a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack, but then McCarthy rejected the framework hashed out by his own ranking member. McCarthy argued that the existing committees could handle the probe, although there was no question that precedent allowed the creation of a special panel. Think of Benghazi.

Now McCarthy, Jordan and their three colleagues are faced with a serious decision. They can either comply with the subpoena and testify, or risk a legal fight with the committee.

Should Republicans refuse to comply with the subpoena – which seems likely – the Jan. 6 committee could bring the case to the Ethics Committee. That would be fruitless, as the panel is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats can try to hold McCarthy in criminal or civil contempt. However, the Justice Department has been slow to act in some contempt cases. It’s unclear too if a federal judge or the Justice Department would want to get involved in an internal legislative branch dispute.

Let’s deal with another issue here – McCarthy came under fire last month following a New York Times report that he’d recommend Trump resign rather than risk a second Senate impeachment trial. McCarthy denied saying it, but then a tape came out proving he had. McCarthy’s response has been to more tightly embrace Trump.

McCarthy will use this subpoena to play up his pro-Trump credentials with the hardline faction of his conference that has always been wary of him. The whole subpoena incident may shore up McCarthy internally in a way that nothing else could.

The political ramifications are important to consider. McCarthy’s allies and aides always expected that the panel – led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and McCarthy irritant Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) – would attempt to subpoena the California Republican. The panel has one shot to conduct this investigation and a compressed time frame to do it in. McCarthy has already conceded that he spoke to Trump on Jan. 6, so why would the committee pass up on an opportunity to try to compel his testimony?

Of course, an action like this will have an equal reaction by McCarthy should he become speaker next year. You can expect that a House Republican majority will be quite liberal with subpoenas. Furthermore, Jordan, who is expected to wield the Judiciary Committee gavel in a GOP majority, will be armed with subpoena power himself.

You also shouldn’t be surprised if McCarthy takes punitive action against those who issued this subpoena to him. If Cheney, the select panel’s vice chair, wins reelection and Republicans are in the majority, you can expect that she’ll be frozen out of nearly every element of legislating – including committee assignments, unless it’s with Democrats. It would be shortsighted if McCarthy tried to punish Thompson. He’s a beloved member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and McCarthy will need Democratic help to raise the debt limit and fund the government. But we wouldn’t be surprised if he took some action against several members of the panel or other Democrats. Think Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) for a start.

Let’s talk about Pelosi and the Democratic leadership.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats have taken dramatic steps this Congress, using their power in a way no recent majority would have attempted.

Spurred on by the dual crisis of Jan. 6 and the pandemic, Pelosi and the Democrats have installed magnetometers around the House chamber and fined members who didn’t comply with the security policy; fined members for not wearing masks on the floor; kicked Republicans off committees; instituted proxy voting and virtual committee hearings, and kept these procedures in place even as the pandemic has waned; impeached an outgoing president without any hearings.

The select committee – which has already alleged in a court filing that Trump may have engaged in criminal behavior in trying to overturn the election – threatened to subpoena members’ emails and text messages. And now it has subpoenaed the minority leader and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, neither of whom are alleged to have violated the law or even House rules at this point.

Consider all this for a moment. Every move may be justifiable on its own merits, but together, they represent a stunning exercise of institutional power. Pelosi may be in her last term as speaker, but she sure isn’t acting like it.

“Who of us is above the law?” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer responded on Thursday when we asked him about the subpoenas. “Nancy Pelosi is subject to subpoena. Nobody is above the law. Nobody should be above the procedures of this Congress or the courts. Period.”

“If they want to subpoena me at some point in the future, I will go and I will tell the truth,” Hoyer added. “[McCarthy] can avoid the subpoena very easily. Simply agree to voluntarily come to the committee and tell the truth. That’s what they’re after – the truth.”

The gulf between McCarthy and Democrats – already pretty wide – is only going to get wider. Hoyer approached McCarthy on the floor Thursday after one of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn’s bills failed. Hoyer asked for help in getting the legislation through. McCarthy said he wasn’t going to be helping Democrats with much anymore.

All that said, Democrats have some political challenges here, too. They have a lot on their plate in coming weeks and months: skyrocketing inflation, a sluggish stock market, a stalled legislative agenda, no clear path forward on Covid aid, and a rank-and-file that’s a bit frustrated by the slow pace of legislating.

The Jan. 6 committee’s first public hearing will be in 27 days – on June 9. This is designed to grab headlines and lay out the story of the insurrection in granular detail. Balancing the two demands – curing what ails the U.S. economy and focusing on Jan. 6 – is something that some Democrats have said they’re worried about.