FORMER CONGRESSMAN: CONGRESS HAS LEGAL AUTHORITY TO ARREST AND JAIL LOIS LERNER

Supreme Court Has Previously
Upheld This Authority

Matthew Burke, TPNN News Editor — Former seven-term congressman from Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district, Ernest Istook, says that Congress has the “clear authority” to arrest and jail Lois Lerner until she testifies and says that is “the best way to end the stonewalling.”

Istook says there is “no better option.”

Lerner, the former head of the Obama IRS tax-exempt organizations unit, is a key figure in the targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups, political opponents of Barack Obama. Lerner, part of what promised to be the “most transparent administration in history,” has twice refused to testify to Congress about the matter.

Former Congressman Istook, a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in his Washington Times column yesterday that no one believes “hyper-political” Obama Attorney General Eric Holder will prosecute Lerner and that his so-called investigation of the Obama IRS scandal is an “obvious sham.”

Earlier this month it was revealed that the Obama IRS targeting scandal runs much deeper than simple harassment. Emails obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch indicate Lerner sought to use other branches of the Obama federal government, specifically the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to legally attack and prosecute Obama political opponents in order to silence them, effectively stripping away their First Amendment rights. Emails indicate Lerner was in coordination with Democrat politicians and the Department of Justice in the politicalization of the powerful government agency.

Istook said that asking the courts to enforce contempt proceedings against Lerner “would take years.”

We would witness delays and drawn-out court maneuverings that would be to her advantage while frustrating the public’s right to know. Those approaches would be passing the buck to the executive or judicial branches.

Istook said while Congress has the legal authority to arrest and jail Lerner, and the Supreme Court has previously upheld this authority, Congress has shied away from even acknowledging that the power exists:

Instead, the House of Representatives should use its inherent and historical power to arrest and confine persons it finds to be in contempt. The Supreme Court has upheld this power; this would not be the first time Congress confined someone to compel them to testify.

Yet most Capitol Hill discussion shies away from even acknowledging that this power exists. This reflects a misplaced timidity among some House Republicans who prefer to avoid political heat. And it reflects most Democrats’ disregard for accountability.

Ms. Lerner showed no such timidity when she supported imprisoning political foes of President Obama. She was not responding to proven wrongdoing; she was describing her unproven belief that conservative non-profits surely must be engaged in illegal politicking. As Ms. Lerner wrote in her email to the Justice Department, “One prosecution would make an impact.”

Istook cites prior Supreme Court cases which upheld the power of Congress to confine a witness like Lerner “until they provide the testimony demanded by the House or Senate” and can do so until she agrees to comply. » Full Article

About The Post Author, Matthew Burke

Matthew Burke is a former Financial Advisor/Planner for 24 years. He was a 2010 Constitutional Conservative candidate for U.S. Congress in Washington State.

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