Inherent Contempt

Think Progress » DoJ blocks voting section chief from testifying.

DoJ blocks voting section chief from testifying. The House Judiciary Committee’s scheduled hearing tomorrow on the Civil Rights Division’s voting rights section has been canceled because “the Justice Department has refused to allow the chief of the section, John Tanner, to testify.” Read More...

At point does this congress say, "Enough!! All already!" And start Inherent Contempt proceedings against anyone not coming before the presiding oversight committees. Last night I caught part of one of the discussions on MSNBC on what congress can do about a contemptuous Executive Branch.


I found out that congress can under Inherent contempt:

The procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited for contempt 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 subject to punishment that the House 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, against a U.S. Postmaster. After a one-week trial on the Senate floor (presided by the Vice-President of the United States, acting as Senate President), a former Postmaster, William P. MacCracken, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.

The Postmaster had filed a petition of Habeas Corpus in federal courts to overturn his arrest, but after litigation, the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted constitutionally, and denied the petition in the case Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1935). [1]

Excepted from Wikipedia Contempt of Congress Section

Technorati Tags: Inherent Contempt, Congress, Constitutional Law

Fredo must go!!

If Bush won't fire Gonzales then Congress should impeach him out of office. With these new allegations that he has yet again given false testimony. His contempt of congress is beyond don't at this point. Hell, at this point I think it is hard to find anyone connected with this White House that will have their reputations intact at the end of this administration.

Nadler: Attorney General Gonzales Must Resign, Special Prosecutor Needed

"Attorney General Gonzales has shown an apparent reckless disregard for the rule of law and a fundamental lack of respect for the oversight responsibilities of Congress," said Rep. Nadler. "The man entrusted with enforcing our nation’s laws must also abide by them – and Mr. Gonzales has apparently failed in that duty. Providing false, misleading or inaccurate statements to Congress is a serious crime, and the man who may have committed those acts cannot be trusted to investigate himself. A Special Prosecutor is necessary to investigate this and the countless other violations of the law apparently committed by this Executive Branch." Read more...

Technorati Tags: Gonzales, DOJ, Congress, Scandal

Illegal Alien Who Crashed Gate at U.S. Military Base

If this is how are system of security works around the country we are in big trouble. This is frightening on so many levels. Bush Co. keep saying the Homeland Security is the number one priority, but at every turn something comes up that just proves that they are liars.

Illegal Alien Who Crashed Gate at U.S. Military Base Allowed to “Walk”

The driver of a pick-up who ran a checkpoint at a military base in Arizona and had to be stopped by a special barrier, who is in this country illegally, who was carrying a loaded handgun and “possibly cocaine,” was actually driven back to Mexico in an ambulance without being charged...Read More

Technorati Tags: Base Security, Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, Illegal Alien

Message for Congress: clean up your house or else

Can you believe that this Administrations D.O.J would give this kind of message to Congress, in any way shape or form.

TIME.com: Would Justice Clean the House?

The Justice Department has a message for Congress: clean up your house or else we may have to do it for you. A senior federal law enforcement official told TIME that the paralyzed and often lax House ethics committee has created a vacuum that prosecutors won't hesitate to fill. The House’s internal mechanism for keeping corruption in check is “broken,” says the official.

Technorati Tags: DOJ, Department of Justice, House Ethics, House Ethics Committee