Posted on 04/01/2015 1:10:01 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Obama administration informed House Speaker John A. Boehner this week it will not prosecute former IRS executive Lois G. Lerner for contempt of Congress, concluding that she did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions when she was called to testify nearly two years ago.
Ms. Lerner, the figure at the center of the IRS’s tea party targeting scandal, is still facing investigation over the intrusive scrutiny of conservative groups, but the decision by U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen not to pursue the contempt charge approved by the U.S. House does away with at least some of her legal jeopardy.
“We are gratified but not surprised by today’s news,” said William W. Taylor III, Ms. Lerner’s lawyer. “Anyone who takes a serious and impartial look at this issue would conclude that Ms. Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights. It is unfortunate that the majority party in the House put politics before a citizen’s constitutional rights.”
House Republicans, joined by a half-dozen Democrats, voted to hold Ms. Lerner in contempt of Congress last year after she appeared before the House Oversight Committee in May 2013 and delivered a statement proclaiming her innocence and then refusing to answer the committee’s questions about her activities as head of the IRS division that reviewed groups’ applications for nonprofit status.
Ms. Lerner refused the questions citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I’m frankly surprised that JustUs department is not vigorously prosecuting Congress for questioning her at all.
"We" will never take over.
Not only will you never see a Conservative president again in your lifetime, you will never see a REPUBLICAN president again in your lifetime.
No we don’t, not by a long shot.
The rule of law is dead in America. How than is anyone constrained to obey any law at all when the government obeys none?
Congress has just been told that a venomous snake can sit before them, testify haughtily, and then refuse to answer any questions. And when Congress holds her in contempt, she faces no punishment.
Congress has just been told in all but words that they are not to be feared.
Will they do anything about it, or just step up to microphones and whine?
Washington D.C. is contemptible..
AND many State's, County's and Local Administrations..
Lot's of contempt and few seem to care..
That's also contemptible.. the apathy is great...
***
Hold Machen in contempt!
Someone needs to go to jail!!
Of course not
and eric holder is not in prison
The IRS is still in biz
And susan rice is still lying to the country for her boss
Iran is still building a bomb
Obama is till in office
Harry reid still is in office and keeps his retirement.
Pelosi and Feisteins husbands keep getting richer from legislation exemptions.
Biz as usual. Everybody get a check from US.
we are facing tyranny and a dictatorship while Christians are under attack for their beliefs and religion due to our reps supposedly on our side not doing a damn thing the frigging cowards.
COWARDS & Financial WHORES!
Did anyone think that THE MOST CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION IN U.S. HISTORY” would prosecute Lois Liar?
2 wrongs don't make a right. I will scream and fight just as hard against R's pulling this BS as when the turds do it.
From Wikipedia:
Inherent Contempt
Under this process, the procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited is arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms for the House or Senate, brought to the floor of the chamber, held to answer charges by the presiding officer, and then subjected to punishment as the chamber may dictate (usually imprisonment for punishment reasons, imprisonment for coercive effect, or release from the contempt citation).
Concerned with the time-consuming nature of a contempt proceeding and the inability to extend punishment further than the session of the Congress concerned (under Supreme Court rulings), Congress created a statutory process in 1857. While Congress retains its "inherent contempt" authority and may exercise it at any time, this inherent contempt process was last used by the Senate in 1934, in a Senate investigation of airlines and the U.S. Postmaster. After a one-week trial on the Senate floor (presided over by the Vice-President of the United States, acting as Senate President), William P. MacCracken, Jr., a lawyer and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics who had allowed clients to rip up subpoenaed documents, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
MacCracken filed a petition of habeas corpus in federal courts to overturn his arrest, but after litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted constitutionally, and denied the petition in the case Jurney v. MacCracken. Presidential pardons appear not to apply to a civil contempt procedure such as the above, since it is not an "offense against the United States" or against "the dignity of public authority."
Do the Republicans have the guts, spine or the testosterone to do this?
Answer: None of the above
I'm, well, you know..............
Losers: America; US Constitution, Equal Justice
Winners: Corrupt Obola, withHolder, Spoliator Lerner,
Hamas, al Qaeda, Boko Harem, Corrupt Issa, Corrupt Cummings
Do bears $hit on the moon?
There you have it. For all its devious scheming and obvious political machinations liberalism encounters surprising little resistance. There’s no real pushback from so-called conservatives so the liberal train keeps running down the tracks.
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