Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lois Lerner could go to jail in contempt clash
The Washington Examiner ^ | March 27, 2014 | editorial board

Posted on 03/30/2014 8:54:52 AM PDT by sgtyork

This may come as a shock to Lois Lerner, but the House of Representatives has the authority to jail her unless she changes her mind about refusing to answer questions about her role in the IRS scandal. Essentially, what is required for that to happen is for a House majority to vote for a motion holding her in contempt and House Speaker John Boehner to then direct the House sergeant at arms to arrest and confine her. Under the Constitution, the House can do that under its “inherent contempt” authority, which was initially exercised in 1795 during the First Congress and on multiple occasions thereafter. Lerner could be held until January 2015 when a new Congress is seated, which could issue another subpoena and throw her in the clink again if she still balks at testifying.

According to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report, inherent contempt has the unique advantage that it doesn’t require “the cooperation or assistance of either the executive or judicial branches. The House or Senate can, on its own, conduct summary proceedings and cite the offender for contempt.” The prospect of an eight or nine month stretch in the congressional slammer might have a sobering effect on Lerner. On the other hand, neither the House nor the Senate has used this authority since 1935, according to the CRS report, because the process can be “unseemly” and time-consuming.

The prospect of an eight or nine month stretch in the congressional slammer might have a sobering effect on Lerner.

Plus, Lerner may be on solid ground in thinking Boehner and other House Republicans don't have the political spine to jail her. But just as the South's “massive resistance” in the 1950s to racial integration was doomed to fail because it could not be sustained over time, the Obama administration's comprehensive refusal since November 2010 to cooperate with legitimate congressional oversight by House committees may be sowing seeds of frustration that eventually undercut Lerner's calculation of how long she can keep silent. Chairman Darrell Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Jim Jordan, who heads that panel's oversight subcommittee, are patient individuals but perhaps not that patient.

Something else is also clear: House leaders have effectively laid the legal predicate for a contempt vote. Earlier this week, the Office of General Counsel for the House delivered its opinion that Issa's committee has satisfied all legal requirements in its dealings with Lerner and her Fifth Amendment claim, so “there is no constitutional impediment to … the committee approving a resolution recommending that the full House hold Ms. Lerner in contempt of Congress …”

Contempt citations aren't common but neither are they a thing of the past. Among those cited for contempt just since 1980 are such notables as Attorney General Eric Holder, then-White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and then-White House General Counsel Harriet Miers, then-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford and then-EPA Assistant Administrator Rita Lavelle.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 113th; bho44; bhoirs; contemptofcongress; coverup; cultureofcorruption; demlies; gettherope; impeachnow; irs; irsscandal; loislerner
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last
To: sgtyork
The House GOP will do nothing, because doing nothing is the safe option. They put Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress in September 2012 and have since done nothing but continue to send Holder letters asking him to comply with subpoenas.

Cowards.

21 posted on 03/30/2014 9:13:43 AM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (You can have a free country or government schools. Choose one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork
A minor correction to the headline:

Lois Lerner could should go to jail in contempt clash

Waiting till the word should can be changed to the word will.

22 posted on 03/30/2014 9:18:01 AM PDT by upchuck (South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy for Speaker of the House!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ProtectOurFreedom

Bonehead and Cantor?

They don’t want to actually make Lerner pay a price.
They just want to use it as a campaign tool.


23 posted on 03/30/2014 9:18:48 AM PDT by tennmountainman (Just Say No To Obamacare)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

> the House of Representatives has the authority to jail her<

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action!

Elvis. 1968.

Maybe the YouTube link should be sent every House Republican.


24 posted on 03/30/2014 9:19:58 AM PDT by prisoner6 (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered! I AM A FREE MAN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

Poor Lois.

She has to calculate the risk of spending an eight or nine month stretch in the congressional slammer, Vs the possibility of being dead forever.


25 posted on 03/30/2014 9:20:08 AM PDT by null and void ( Everything evil in the world may not be Islamic but everything Islamic is evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

If Lerner were a Republican and if Democrats controlled the House, then yes, she probably would be sent to jail. But unfortunately, Republican control the House. So the chance of them actually doing anything to punish her remains equal to the probability of Obama releasing his college records.


26 posted on 03/30/2014 9:23:58 AM PDT by Hoodat (Democrats - Opposing Equal Protection since 1828)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

That mere wrist slaps have become the norm speaks volumes.

A bank treats its depositors in a fraudulent manner. The bank get fined (read, the bank’s shareholders pay for it). How much better if the bank CEO, and others if appropriate, be put in prison? As it stands, the CEO receives no real punishment.

Same with Lerner, Holder, et al. Time in jail is significant.

Forcing Lerner to “suffer” through administrative leave with pay is a joke.


27 posted on 03/30/2014 9:24:10 AM PDT by upchuck (South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy for Speaker of the House!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ronnie raygun

She could go to jail but she won’t. Nobody will go to jail. What else is new?


28 posted on 03/30/2014 9:25:09 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

I’d bet she has a better chance of getting her own show on CNN than going to jail.


29 posted on 03/30/2014 9:25:34 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

Turkey neck will not go to jail. The corrupt ‘justice’ department will see to it that she doesn’t.


30 posted on 03/30/2014 9:30:47 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible traitors. Complicit in the destruction of our country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork
Sure looks like America is speaking up. It's time for the 113th to get fired.
31 posted on 03/30/2014 9:31:11 AM PDT by progunner (no compromise)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork
Lois Lerner will never get time. She is under the communists umbrella of King Obama.
32 posted on 03/30/2014 9:31:42 AM PDT by Logical me
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

There is enough evidence in the public domain to conclude that Lois Lerner at least participated in violations of citizens’ rights, perhaps presided over the violations, or conspired with others to do so.

This is a crime, and she’s obstructing justice.

Put her in jail.


33 posted on 03/30/2014 9:32:03 AM PDT by wayoverontheright
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

34 posted on 03/30/2014 9:34:08 AM PDT by BraveMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork
re: Lois Lerner could go to jail in contempt clash

In what parallel universe? Shirley not in this one.

35 posted on 03/30/2014 9:35:35 AM PDT by Tupelo (I feel more like Philip Nolan every day)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork
Plus, Lerner may be on solid ground in thinking Boehner and other House Republicans don't have the political spine to jail her.

I've yet to see a spine, except from Trey Gowdy. I hope they are stringing her out so she'll name names (like obammy).

And why aren't Repubs out in front of cameras every day likening this to Watergate. Repeat it often enough and...

36 posted on 03/30/2014 9:36:35 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: I want the USA back
The corrupt ‘justice’ department will see to it that she doesn’t.

The DOJ has nothing to do with Congress' ability to hold someone in contempt and jail them. It is up to Boehner to allow contempt proceedings to be held. That is where the bottleneck is - Boehner!

37 posted on 03/30/2014 9:37:59 AM PDT by JohnG45
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

Boehner won’t do it.


38 posted on 03/30/2014 9:40:05 AM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

Not much chance with the GOP leadership declaring war on the Tea Party - the enemy of my enemy is my friend or ally.


39 posted on 03/30/2014 9:47:06 AM PDT by monocle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sgtyork

Does anybody here think Bonehead has the rocks to do this? I don’t.


40 posted on 03/30/2014 9:53:33 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson