IANAL but I believe the court could hold them personally in contempt, which has real legal implications, but they cannot invent penalties or restrictions on the

IANAL but I believe the court could hold them personally in contempt, which has real legal implications, but they cannot invent penalties or restrictions on the executive out of whole cloth. Nor can they supercede any passed legislation limiting the liability of federal officers. Personal liability shields for federal employees usually have clauses around acting willfully in violation of the law and/or criminally negligent. So the argument would be that they can be held personally in contempt as it would be a willful violation. It’s a strong statement, but not sure it actually has teeth.