Historic Moment: House Votes To Hold Holder In Contempt

Saturday, May 25, 2013 19:34

(Before It's News)

http://www.examiner.com/article/house-votes-to-hold-attorney-general-eric-holder-contempt

House votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt

• Fast and Furious
• June 28, 2012
• By: Joe Newby
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Attorney General Eric Holder

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Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

For the first time in U.S. history, a sitting attorney general has been held in contempt of Congress.

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• Fast and Furious
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• contempt of Congress
• Speaker John Boehner

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On Thursday, the GOP-led House of Representatives voted 255-67 to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over documents relating to the Fast and Furious scandal.
Over 100 Democrats, including the 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, walked out of the vote, saying the Republican leadership "has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action."
"For these reasons, we cannot and will not participate in a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt," the CBC said in a letter.
Seventeen Democrats joined the Republican majority in voting for the contempt resolution, while two Republicans voted against it. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) voted not present.
According to USA Today:

The criminal citation will [be] sent on to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia -- who works for Holder.
The civil contempt allows the House to sue Holder in court in an attempt to get the documents in question.

The White House responded by repeating the claim that gun-walking operations began under the Bush Administration.
"Yet," the Administration said, "Republicans pushed for political theater rather than legitimate Congressional oversight."
Attorney General Holder said that Republicans "have focused on politics over public safety."
"Instead of trying to correct the problems that led to a series of flawed law enforcement operations -- and instead of helping us find ways to better protect the brave law enforcement officers, like Agent Brian Terry, who keep us safe – they have led us to this unnecessary and unwarranted outcome," he added.
The House also voted to give Rep. Issa's Oversight and Government Reform Committee authority to sue the Justice Department in federal court to obtain the documents they seek.
Before the vote, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that "no Justice Department is above the law, and no Justice Department is above the Constitution, which each of us has sworn an oath to uphold."

Wikipedia: Partial list of those held in contempt since 1975 [edit]

This section requires expansion.(September 2010)

Person	Subcommittee/Committee	Chamber	Ultimate Disposition
Rogers C.B. Morton(Republican), Secretary of Commerce	November 11, 1975 Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce	Not considered	Morton released the material to the subcommittee.
Henry Kissinger(Republican), Secretary of State	November 15, 1975 House Select Committee on Intelligence	Not considered	Citation dismissed after “substantial compliance” with subpoena.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr.(Democrat), Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare	August 6, 1978 Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce	Not considered	Califano complied with the subpoena about one month after the subcommittee citation.
Charles W. Duncan, Jr.(Democrat), Secretary of Energy	April 29, 1980 Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations	Not considered	Duncan supplied the material by 14 May 1980.
James B. Edwards(Republican), Secretary of Energy	July 23, 1981 Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations	Not considered	Documents were delivered to Congress prior to full Committee consideration of the contempt citation.
James G. Watt(Republican), Secretary of the Interior	February 9, 1982 Subcommittee of House Committee on Energy and Commerce 25 February 1982 House Committee on Energy and Commerce	Not considered	The White House delivered documents to the Rayburn House Office Building for review by Committee members for four hours, providing for no staff or photocopies.
Anne Gorsuch(Republican), Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	December 2, 1982 Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation House Committee on Public Works and Transportation	House of Representatives	After legal cases and a court dismissal of the executive Branch’s suit, the parties reached an agreement to provide documents.
Rita Lavelle (Republican), EPA official	April 26, 1983 House Committee on Energy and Commerce	House of Representatives	Indicted for lying to Congress; convicted; sentenced to 6 months in prison, 5 years probation thereafter, and a fine of $10,000
Jack Quinn (Democrat), White House Counsel David Watkins, White House Director of Administration Matthew Moore, White House aide	May 9, 1996 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform	Not considered	Subpoenaed documents were provided hours before the House of Representatives was set to consider the contempt citation.
Janet Reno (Democrat), Attorney General	August 6, 1998 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform	Not considered	Documents in question were revealed during the impeachment of President Clinton.
Harriet Miers(Republican), Former White House Counsel Joshua Bolten(Republican), White House Chief of Staff	July 25, 2007 House Committee on the Judiciary[11]	February 14, 2008 House of Representatives[12]	On March 4, 2009, Miers and former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush Karl Rove, agreed to testify under oath before Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys
Eric Holder (Democrat),Attorney General	June 20, 2012 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform[13]	June 28, 2012 House of Representatives	Fou