Posted on 05/23/2013 8:12:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Services embattled director of Exempt Organizations, could be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify before Congress, civil-rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz says.
"She's in trouble. She can be held in contempt," Dershowitz told "the Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Congress . . . can actually hold you in contempt and put you in the Congressional jail."
Lerner, grilled Wednesday on the IRS' targeting of conservative organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination but not before insisting "I have done nothing wrong."
Her brief statement of innocence has opened a legal Pandora's Box, according to Dershowitz.
"You can't simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth in response to questions about the very same subject," the renowned Harvard Law professor said.
"Once you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right . . . you've waived your self-incrimination right on that subject matter."
He said the fact that Lerner went ahead with her proclamation of could be considered malpractice on the part of her attorney although it's possible she overruled the advice she received.
"It should never have been allowed. She should have been told by her attorney that the law is clear, that once you open up an area of inquiry for interrogation, you have to respond," he said.
"Now she may have made a political decision that it's worth it to take the risk . . . That's just not the way the law works. It may be the way politics works . . . but she can't invoke the Fifth."
He said the issue goes back to the "bad old days" of McCarthyism, during hearings in which suspected Communists were grilled by the House
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
If she watched what happened to Shulman once Trey Gowdy got ahold of him she might prefer going to jail rather than testifying. That was the verbal equivilant of a prison rape.
I would pretty much accept Dershowitz’ opinion on this as being pretty dispositive.
Drag her back in, and grill her. She has to answer.
And now I’m happy that they didn’t do so yesterday. Now she’s had a night or two to lose sleep and fret and stew over how she has really screwed it all up.
What difference does it make? /s
Jailed? By whom? Attorney Corporal Holder? The guy who’s said to be the Attorney Corporal-In-Waiting,Deval “Coupe Deval” Patrick,a soft spoken Marxist who goes way back with Osama Obama...back to the days when they were both Chicago street punks (sorry,”community organizers”)?
Elijah Cummings is changing his tune today and supporting Lerner and her 5th plea ,because he thought she got away yesterday
Wonder if Obama and Valerie will camp out on AF1 for a few months?.
Congress has their own jail
What’d they do, convert the old post office???
It's the arrogance of 34 years in the federal government coming through. She overruled IRS rules as well when it was convenient for her as well.
I like Professor Dershowitz, but once again, he shows the laziness of the pundit class. As Ann Coulter once told the super self important Bill O’Rielly.
“It was the HOUSE UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC)
Joe McCarthy was a SENATOR”
The funniest line of the day was O’Rielly’s insipid answer. “Well, he had a lot of influence over them”.
If our side would just get their face in a camera and explain the process a little better the publik wouldn’t jump to such conclusions about republicans; Issa can simply, “blame the process” with which he has to uphold and, “she gave him no choice”...
If Martha Stewart had to do time, certainly this bureaucratic miscreant should be given an opportunity of seeing the world from behind bars!
Lois Lerner is also a lawyer.
Sure he is. His purpose in these heaings is to seem all offended while steering any hints of direct involvement away from Obama.
The Congress has it’s own police force........
O'Reilly claims to be running a no-spin zone, but he spins with the best of them.
yeah, well Cummings isn’t the sharpest pencil in the box
Alan Dershowitz: “IRS Chief Lerner ‘Can Be Held in Contempt”
Well... YOU’D be if you pulled a stunt like THAT!
Concerning Dershowitz’s remarks: It’s refreshing to see someone speak honestly for a change.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.