Posted on 03/14/2014 12:48:10 PM PDT by smoothsailing
March 14, 2014
In a sternly-worded letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings — and obtained by The Daily Caller — Rep. Darrell Issa said that his House Oversight Committee is well within its rights to hold ex-IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt despite Cummings’ arguments to the contrary.
“On March 12, 2014, you sent a letter to Speaker Boehner arguing that the House of Representatives is barred ‘from successfully pursuing contempt proceedings against former IRS official Lois Lerner,’” Issa wrote. “Your position was based on an allegedly ‘independent legal analysis’ provided by your lawyer, Stanley M. Brand, and your ‘Legislative Consultant,’ Morton Rosenberg,” he wrote.
Brand and Rosenberg claimed that Lerner was not “made unequivocally certain that her failure to respond would result in criminal contempt prosecution.” But Issa strongly disagreed.
“You and your lawyers and consultants are wrong on the facts and the law,” Issa wrote. “The Facts: Lerner knew that the Committee had rejected her privilege objection and that, consequently, she risked contempt should she persist in refusing to answer the Committee’s questions.”
Though Oversight member Rep. Jim Jordan confirmed to TheDC that the committee is “moving” toward contempt for Lerner, Cummings’ recent letter to Boehner was widely reported on in the mainstream press to bolster the story that the committee is unable to compel Lerner to testify.
But Issa’s letter walks Cummings step-by-step through flaws in the Democrats’ argument.
“You and your lawyers and consultants also misunderstand the law. Contrary to your insistence, the courts do not require the invocation by the Committee of certain magic words; rather (and sensibly), the courts have required only that congressional committees provide witnesses with a ‘fair appraisal of the committee’s ruling on an objection,’ thereby leaving the witness with a choice: comply with the relevant committee’s demand for testimony, or risk contempt,” Issa wrote.
“You and your lawyers and consultants refer specifically to Quinn v. United States. In that case, however, the Supreme Court held only that, because ‘[a]t no time did the committee [at issue there] specifically overrule [the witness’s] objection based on the Fifth Amendment,’ the witness ‘was left to guess whether or not the committee had accepted his objection.’
Here, of course, the Committee expressly rejected Lerner’s objection, and specifically notified Lerner and her counsel of the same: She was left to guess at nothing,” Issa wrote.
“Second, Quinn expressly rejects your insistence on the talismanic incantation by the Committee of certain magic words: ‘[T]he committee is not required to resort to any fixed verbal formula to indicate its disposition of the objection. So long as the witness is not forced to guess the committee’s ruling, he has no cause to complain,’” Issa wrote.
THEN DO IT ALREADY, DAMMIT!
Issa’s quick.
It’s been, what? How long since we’ve known about this? Long enough to think it’s part of the Constitution and Lincoln was the first democrat president to sic the IRS on people?
Oh, that’s right, Lincoln was a Republican.
Someone should send their pet cat in to do Isaa’s job. It would be more efficient.
Precisely. If “we can” doesn’t quickly translate to “we will/we are”, then why posture?
I’m right there with ya! Stop the back and forth already and just do it. No more talking. We need action, NOW!!
:: Rep. Jim Jordan confirmed to TheDC that the committee is “moving” toward contempt ::
And, THERE, you have it; movement toward contempt.
So what? Holder wears his contempt citation like a badge of honor. The House should arrest Lerner and hold her is whatever passes for a Congressional jail and then we would see if Obama would send in his enforcers to break her out.
"Sternly worded letters" are the lawyer equivalent of hair pulling and scratching.
Just remember folks, Cummings comes from the CBC wherein a female congresswoman believes the USA constitution is 400 years old, a newly elected senator that says he drove to Hawaii and a POTUS that believes the USA is made up of 57 states. Go figure!!!
What are the Republicans going to do when they have run of the Senate?
Oh, yeah, the same thing they do with majority in the House. Hire some do nothing to be the leader and hang out with lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce, schmooze them with amnesty promises, allow the dems to be in charge and ruin our country and our childrens’ lives
Hmm. They wonder why conservatives don’t vote.
Anyone making fun of Green Eggs and Ham should read it. It might remind them of whom these guys are working for and get a little humility.
Issa.
BLECh!
It’s an election year and the drums must be pounded? I hope he means business. Would be glad if someone is held accountable.
ZING!
Issa blows more smoke than Snoop Dog..
THEN DO IT ALREADY, DAMMIT!
/echo
They are apparently constipated as the so-called movement has yet to produce anything.
I wish I had nematocysts. They’d be great in a fight.
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