Jul 02, 2012 · A memo from Holder’s office said of the vote: “It’s an election-year tactic intended to distract attention.”. On June 28, 2012, Holder was held in criminal contempt by the House of Representatives in a 255-67 vote, with 17 Democrats voting for the measure and civil contempt by a vote of 258-95 with 21 Democrats voting for the measure.
But federal prosecutors, including all 93 U.S. attorneys, work for the attorney general and are under no legal obligation to pursue a contempt charge against him. As a 2019 Congressional Research Service report on enforcing congressional subpoenas explains, prosecutors have discretion, even when a statute uses mandatory language. Recent history is sprinkled with such …
Dec 23, 2015 · The vote, which holds the attorney general in criminal contempt, was followed by a second vote that held Holder in civil contempt of Congress. The civil contempt vote allows Congress to go to ...
May 12, 2019 · Harkins says if Congress charges Barr with contempt, "You can easily see the court cases for this lasting more than 18 months." Expect an epic legal battle in which Democrats challenge executive ...
House Committee voted, 19–15, to recommend Pagliano for a contempt resolution for failing to appear during a September 13 and 22, 2016, hearing after being subpoenaed and submitting a written Fifth Amendment plea in lieu of appearing in person.
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.
If the subject then refuses to comply with the Court's order, the person may be cited for contempt of court and may incur sanctions imposed by the Court. The process has been used at least six times.
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, imprisonment for coercion, or release from the contempt citation).
Procedures. Following the refusal of a witness to produce documents or to testify, the committee is entitled to report a resolution of contempt to its parent chamber. A Committee may also cite a person for contempt but not immediately report the resolution to the floor.
United States that " [the] power of the Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process" and that " [it] is unquestionably the duty of all citizens to cooperate with the Congress in its efforts to obtain the facts needed for intelligent legislative action.
Dunn (1821), the Supreme Court of the United States held that Congress' power to hold someone in contempt was essential to ensure that Congress was "... not exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may mediate against it.".
The criminal contempt resolution, passed by 255 to 67, with most Democrats walking out of the chamber en masse before the vote, related to Operation Fast and Furious, a federal investigation launched in Arizona designed to ensnare gun smugglers involved with the Mexican drug cartels. Thursday's vote was of symbolic value, ...
Operation Fast and Furious went awry after agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives practised a controversial technique known as "gun-walking", where low-level smugglers were allowed to traffic weapons in the hope that bigger fish could be caught further down the line.
About 1,400 of the 2,000 guns involved went missing, and two were found at the scene of the killing of a US border agent, Brian Terry. During the debate leading up to the contempt vote, Republican speakers repeatedly referred to the wishes of the Terry family to seek the truth.
On 23 February, three weeks after the administration denial had been made , Holder wrote to his officials following new revelations in the media to say: "We need answers on this. Not defensive BS. Real answers.".
Ed Pilkington New York. The attorney general Eric Holder has become the first sitting member of a president's cabinet in US history to be held in contempt of Congress after Republicans vented their fury over a bungled gun-tracking investigation.
Democrats responded by accusing the Republican group in the House of engaging in political hystrionics. John Dingell , a Democrat from Michigan who is a former board member of the NRA, accused the Republicans of engaging in a "partisan political witch-hunt with the attorney general as its target".
Attorney general first sitting cabinet member to be held in contempt as 17 Democrats join Republicans to pass resolution. Eric Holder gave a statement after the vote and said the Republican leadership was engaging in 'election-year politics and gamesmanship'. Photograph: AP.
Only 25 of the fifty attorneys general, or 25 percent, have a formal limitation on the number of terms allowed. All 44 of the 44 elected attorneys general serve four-year terms except Vermont, which has a two-year term limit. There is an absolute limit of two terms for 11 people.
After the Judiciary Act of 1789 divided the country into districts and established courts in each district, the responsibility of overseeing civil and criminal actions within each district was passed on to the attorney general.
In 1789, Edmund Jennings Randolph was sworn in as the American attorney general by the President George Washington.
In the United States, the attorney general serves as an elected position within the Cabinet. In addition to its executive staff and several deputies, the Office of the Attorney General is tasked with supporting the attorney general’s efforts. United States Attorney General Merrick Garland assumed his duties on March 11, 2021.
Under this role, the Attorney-General reviews legal matters with the Government, and performs other roles related to his responsibilities and that of the President and Cabinet on legal matters.
95 of the states are under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service. There are attorneys with offices across the nation, including Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are included in this section.
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Congress has generally applied to the refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by a congressional committee or subcommittee—usually seeking to compel either testimony or the production of requested documents.
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Congress has generally applied to the refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by a congressional committee or subcommittee—usually seeking to compel either testimony or the production of requested documents.
In the late 1790s, declaring contempt of Congress was considered an "implied power" of the legislature, in a similar manner as the British Parliament could make findings of contempt of Parliament—early Congresses issued contempt citations against numerous individuals for a variety of actions. Some instances of contempt of Congress included citations against:
• Robert Randal, for an attempt to bribe Representative William Smith of South Carolina in 1795.
The Supreme Court affirmed in Watkins v. United States(1957) that "[the] power of the Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process" and that "[it] is unquestionably the duty of all citizens to cooperate with the Congress in its efforts to obtain the facts needed for intelligent legislative action. It is their unremitting obligation to respond to subpoenas, to respect the dignity of the Congress and its committees and to testify fully with respect to matters within …
Following the refusal of a witness to produce documents or to testify, the committee is entitled to report a resolution of contempt to its parent chamber. A committee may also cite a person for contempt but not immediately report the resolution to the floor. In the case of subcommittees, they report the resolution of contempt to the full committee, which then has the option of rejecting it, accepting it but not reporting it to the floor, or accepting it and reporting it to the floor of the c…
• Contempt of court
• The Hollywood Ten
• Separation of powers under the United States Constitution
• "Congress's Contempt Power: Law, History, Practice, and Procedure" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. May 12, 2017.
• Zuckerman, Michael A. (2009). "The Court of Congressional Contempt" (PDF). Journal of Law and Politics. 25: 41–81. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2010.