Bush's former White House counsel Harriet Miers and chief of staff Josh Bolten in contempt after the White House, citing executive privilege, directed them not to comply with subpoenas for documents related to a congressional investigation into the firing of several U.
The speaker of the House asked the U. Congress sued, and a district court judge sided with lawmakers. The Bush administration appealed, and while the case was still pending, Obama took office. The new administration then settled the case, granting Congress access to some of the documents it sought and allowing sworn testimony from Miers.
By then, a year and a half after Congress issued the subpoena, the oversight issue largely was moot. Other Cabinet-level or senior executive branch officials cited for contempt in recent history include Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Commerce Secretary Rogers C.
Califano Jr. Quinn in ; and Attorney General Janet Reno in After members of the House Judiciary Committee concluded their markup discussion over the resolution to hold Barr in contempt Wednesday, the panel voted on the resolution.
The resolution now could go to a vote in the full House. Only a simple majority is needed to advance the contempt resolution, and only one chamber needs to approve the measure for a person to be prosecuted for contempt. With a criminal contempt citation, the House would refer the citation to the U. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which can seek an indictment from a grand jury.
All federal prosecutors, including all plus U. With a civil contempt citation, Congress would basically sue Barr in district court.
Now that the Judiciary Committee has approved the contempt resolution, the full House could vote on the measure, with the timing of that up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Speaking at a Washington Post event Wednesday, Pelosi said that the attorney general "should be held in contempt," something she had declined to weigh in on as recently as Tuesday. Once a committee rules that an act of criminal contempt has occurred, the Speaker of the House or Senate President refers the matter to the appropriate U.
But if the case goes to a grand jury, fines and a jail term could result from the ensuing criminal prosecution. The second type of contempt power comes in the form of a civil lawsuit brought by the House or Senate, asking a court to enforce a subpoena. The Senate and its committees are authorized to bring such a lawsuit under a federal statute. There is no similar statute that applies in the House, but the federal district court in Washington, D.
Inherent contempt was the mode employed by Congress to directly enforce contempt rulings under its own constitutional authority until criminal and civil contempt statutes were passed, and it remained in use into the twentieth century.
Under inherent contempt proceedings, the House or Senate has its Sergeant-At-Arms, or deputy, take a person into custody for proceedings to be held in Congress. Although these powers are not directly stated in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that they are implicit as an essential legislative power held by Congress. Daugherty , a Supreme Court decision about Mally S.
Daugherty, the brother of former Attorney General Harry Daugherty. A select Senate committee issued a subpoena for Daugherty to testify and to also surrender records from an Ohio bank. It is the railroading of a resolution that is unsubstantiated by the facts, based on a false premise. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, complained that "every single attempt for even-handed investigation has been thwarted by the Republican majority.
He's doing an excellent job as attorney general. He does not deserve this. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has refused to let witnesses proposed by Democrats give public testimony. They also claim he has been demanding documents outside the scope of the subpoenas Holder is accused of violating.
Specifically, Issa and other Republicans are seeking documents showing why the Justice Department decided to withdraw as inaccurate a February letter sent to Congress that denied any major flaws in Operation Fast and Furious. Holder has repeatedly refused to turn over materials containing internal deliberations, and asked Obama last week to assert executive privilege over such documents. Opinion: Holder contempt vote sign of 'broken' Washington? A video released Tuesday by Democrats on Issa's panel showed the chairman making past allegations of White House links to Fast and Furious, juxtaposed with Issa saying Sunday there was no evidence of a White House cover-up.
Some gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, maintain that the program allowed hundreds of weapons, including assault rifles, to end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels in order for the Obama administration to press for new gun control laws. The NRA heavily pressured House members -- most notably moderate and conservative Democrats -- to back the contempt measures.
The contempt vote in Issa's committee last week fell along strict party lines, with Republicans supporting a contempt recommendation and Democrats opposing it. The vote occurred before the gun lobby formally registered its support for the contempt resolution. Rarely has any pro-gun-rights Democrat representing a rural and Southern district broken with the NRA's position on key votes, especially in an election year.
Meanwhile, Pelosi argued last week that Republicans were targeting Holder because he is fighting their efforts to suppress voter turnout in November.
John Larson, D-Connecticut, chastised Republicans earlier this week for pushing ahead on the contempt vote as part of a strategy to prevent economic progress and harm Obama's re-election chances in November. Read the Congressional Resolution. Read the full contempt report. The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal.
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