Representative Steve Stockman: House Sergeant @ Arms To Arrest Lois Lerner

by JASmius

Well, this is significant:

Congressman Steve Stockman Thursday filed a resolution directing the House Sergeant-At-Arms to arrest former IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations Unit Lois Lerner on charges of contempt of Congress.

“Asking the Justice Department to prosecute Lois Lerner for admittedly illegal activity is a joke. The Obama administration will not prosecute the Obama administration. How much longer will the House allow itself to be mocked? It is up to this House to uphold the rule of law and hold accountable those who illegally targeted American citizens for simply having different ideas than the President,” said Stockman.

“Democrats have openly stated the House has the powers to arrest those in contempt of Congress and imprison them in the Capitol. I don’t want to go as far as Democrats in exercising the House’s powers to arrest. Ms. Lerner will be held in the D.C. jail,” said Stockman.

Under the resolution Lerner would be held in the D.C. jail and would have full legal rights and access to an attorney.

“It’s time to for House to stop tacitly endorsing this administration’s illegal activity by refusing to hold him accountable. I expect Democrats to defend and even praise criminal activity. The question is whether Republican leadership will join them in mocking the House and breaking the law,” said Stockman.

Now we'll see if this throwing down of the proverbial gauntlet goes anywhere.  And why shouldn't it?  It's only Lois Lerner.

Here's the resolution:

The text of the resolution, H.Res. 664, follows.

Providing for the arrest of Lois G. Lerner to answer the charge of contempt of Congress

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. STOCKMAN submitted the following resolution, which was referred to the Committee on ______________

RESOLUTION

Whereas Lois G. Lerner, former Director, Exempt Organizations, Internal Revenue Service, has been found to be in contempt of Congress for willfully and intentionally refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, thereby obstructing the Congress in the lawful exercise of its constitutionally mandated legislative powers; and,

Whereas such behavior is an insult to the dignity of the House of Representatives, an attack upon the integrity of its proceedings, works violence upon the rights of the House collectively, and therefore implicates the long-recognized inherent power of the House to punish and commit for contempt, privileged under the Constitution; and,

Whereas recent history with similarly contumacious and insolent witnesses such as Eric Himpton Holder, Junior, strongly suggests that the present statutory judicial rubric set up to punish and reform such insubordinate and obstructionist witnesses would be ineffective in this case, as it is likely that the US Attorney for the District of Columbia would refuse to perform his lawful duty to bring the offending contemnor Lerner before a Grand Jury and prosecute the same for her misconduct pursuant to section 104 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 194) and section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 192); and,

Whereas the executive and judicial branches’ prolonged and dawdling failure to prosecute Attorney General Holder’s insolent contempt of the 112th Congress strongly suggests that a like proceeding against contemnor Lerner would be similarly futile, and the threat of such prosecution has clearly been insufficient to encourage contemnor Lerner to be honest and candid with the Congress regarding the heinous actions of the Internal Revenue Service;

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Speaker issue his warrant, directed to the Sergeant-at-Arms, or his deputy, commanding him to arrest and take into custody forthwith, wherever to be found, the body of Lois G. Lerner, and bring her to the bar of the House without delay to answer to the charge of contempt of its authority, breach of its privileges, and gross and wanton insult to the integrity of its proceedings, and in the meantime keep the body of Lerner in his custody in the common jail of the District of Columbia, subject to the further order of the House. While in custody, Lerner shall enjoy no special privileges beyond those extended to her fellow inmates, shall not access any computer or telephone, and shall not be visited by anyone other than her counsel, clergy, physician, or family.

Remember what I said about Lernergate yesterday?:

I no longer refer to the IRS abuse of power against the Tea Party as "IRSgate" because it has been successfully and irrevocably compartmentalized to one Louis Lerner.  I say this because the 67,000 Lerner emails after the abuses began that were deliberately destroyed in the biggest mass act of obstruction of justice in the history of this and a dozen other galactic sectors, which no doubt contained enough "smoking guns" to arm another of Loki's Chitauri armies, have eliminated any and all evidentiary connections to the Obama White House - as was the rather day-glo obvious intent.  So Double-L is as far as the trail will ever go, and since she's already "retired," and will keep pleading the fifth from here to eternity, and will never be prosecuted for the contempt of Congress charge by Eric "The Red" Holder, Chairman Issa's investigation is, for all intents and purposes, done.

Steve Stockman's resolution doesn't change that.  But it does keep the flickering, guttering, sputtering flame of justice a-light for a little while longer.