Conservative Democrats on Thursday began to desert Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. prior to a historic vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, as Republicans upped the ante by deciding to move toward taking Holder to court themselves if he doesn’t hand over 1,500 pages of documents concerning a failed gun-tracking operation.
House vote-counters predicted that somewhere between 20 and 31 Democrats would desert their party largely because the influential National Rifle Assn. threatened to oppose legislators who support the attorney general.
The House scheduled several hours of debate Thursday before it votes on whether Holder, one of President Obama's closest and most trusted Cabinet allies, should be held in contempt.
It would be the first time a sitting member of the Cabinet has been held in contempt.
Holder has repeatedly rebuffed a congressional subpoena to turn over the internal Justice Department documents detailing the handling of the botched Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The House will consider two resolutions. The first would ask the U.S. Attorney in Washington to file a criminal case to force Holder to comply with the congressional subpoena. The other would permit the House to hire an outside attorney to file a civil lawsuit asking a judge to compel Holder to cooperate.
Otherwise, a contempt resolution likely would die once it was sent to the U.S. Attorney, who works for Holder and likely would not force his boss to comply because Obama has asserted executive privilege to keep the documents sealed.
Although the GOP-controlled House does not need Democratic votes to pass the contempt resolution, the fact that a growing number of Democrats may switch sides points up the volatility of the increasingly political constitutional crisis.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...der-on-contempt-vote-20120627,0,1585927.story
House vote-counters predicted that somewhere between 20 and 31 Democrats would desert their party largely because the influential National Rifle Assn. threatened to oppose legislators who support the attorney general.
The House scheduled several hours of debate Thursday before it votes on whether Holder, one of President Obama's closest and most trusted Cabinet allies, should be held in contempt.
It would be the first time a sitting member of the Cabinet has been held in contempt.
Holder has repeatedly rebuffed a congressional subpoena to turn over the internal Justice Department documents detailing the handling of the botched Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The House will consider two resolutions. The first would ask the U.S. Attorney in Washington to file a criminal case to force Holder to comply with the congressional subpoena. The other would permit the House to hire an outside attorney to file a civil lawsuit asking a judge to compel Holder to cooperate.
Otherwise, a contempt resolution likely would die once it was sent to the U.S. Attorney, who works for Holder and likely would not force his boss to comply because Obama has asserted executive privilege to keep the documents sealed.
Although the GOP-controlled House does not need Democratic votes to pass the contempt resolution, the fact that a growing number of Democrats may switch sides points up the volatility of the increasingly political constitutional crisis.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...der-on-contempt-vote-20120627,0,1585927.story