Posted on 06/21/2012 1:25:04 PM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
Last night, radio host Mark Levin outlined the five steps that should now be taken to compel Attorney General Eric Holder to produce Operation Fast and Furious documents.
“There is no need for Senate action,” Levin explained. Instead, he said, a civil lawsuit should be pursued by House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
Levin outlined what he believes is “the right way to proceed”:
1. Hold Holder in contempt by resolution of the House.
2.Seek authorization from the House for the Committee to proceed by civil action to compel production of the documents.
3.Chairman Issa should file suit in federal court in DC and seek expedited action.
4.A “privilege log” of all documents for which Executive Privilege is claimed should be sought by Issa and ordered produced immediately by the court.
5.The judge should promptly inspect all documents and then compel production of every document for which no legitimate reason justifies Executive Privilege.
Some documents may, indeed, be covered by Executive Privilege, Levin said, noting that the general concept of privilege is important so that the president can confidential receive candid advice from his advisors.
“But the blanket attachment of that label flouts the law and the Constitution, and harms the legitimate assertion of EP by Presidents of either party in the future,” he qualified.
I hope they take TGO’s advice.
The hard part is fast tracking it through the DC Circuit.
Rush is smart and funny, but for pure intelect Levin simply cannot be beat.
I think they will. Everyone knows that he is qualified to sit on the SCOTUS - even those who hate him.
Hate to sound cynical, but a victory that is so clearly drawn out means the House Gop will certainly be quick to compromise to give O and Holder some sort of way out.
I think they’re (GOP) getting scared by the admin and media blitz that are attacking them as partisans.
I hope I’m wrong.
Well, so far, all the wingeing whiners who've been posting "kabuki theater" pictures here so far have been wrong at each and every step along the way up to and including the contempt vote.
When others talk about the unconstitutionality of ignoring the normal legislative process to pass unpopular bills, the White House can afford to ignore them...but, they fear TGO.
Who is TGO?
Mark Levin is know as The Great One
The Great One nickname was given to Mark by Rush during the BJ Clinton impeachment. He also used to call him F. Lee Levin.
Attn Mitt Romney: Levin for A.G.
Heck yeah!
Although Levin usually has great legal insights...and nos. 2 thru 5 are good ideas...the first one kills it all at the start
#1 needs to be a BILL...not a resolution. A resolution has no legal authority...and no judge is going to compel the President of the US to act based on a Resolution
This is basic civics, and surprised Levin got caught on Bill/Resolution. The House needs to pass a Bill...or indict Holder and Obama..a resolution is worthless
Resolutions are sufficient for one body and historically resolutions have been used for contempt.
Amusingly (though slightly off the point), the liberals were all hot to get Miers and Bolton during the Bush admin and here is a bit from the NYTimes opinion page back in those days:
“...From the Republic’s earliest days, Congress has had the right to hold recalcitrant witnesses in contempt — and even imprison them — all by itself. In 1795, shortly after the Constitution was ratified, the House ordered its sergeant at arms to arrest and detain two men accused of trying to bribe members of Congress. The House held a trial and convicted one of them.
In 1821, the Supreme Court upheld Congress’s right to hold people in contempt and imprison them. Without this power, the court ruled, Congress would “be exposed to every indignity and interruption, that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may mediate against it.” Later, in a 1927 case arising from the Teapot Dome scandal, the court upheld the Senate’s arrest of the brother of a former attorney general — carried out in Ohio by the deputy sergeant at arms — for ignoring a subpoena to testify.
The Congressional Research Service issued a report in July that confirmed Congress’s inherent contempt powers. It explained how they work: “The individual is brought before the House or Senate by the sergeant at arms, tried at the bar of the body, and can be imprisoned in the Capitol jail.” Congress can do this, the report concluded, to compel them to testify or to punish them for their refusal to do so.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04tue4.html?_r=1
I doubt we’ll here such talk now LOL!
I debated whether to say SCOTUS for Levin. But then I decided that a Cabinet appointment would have an immediate impact; plus he could always then be nominated for SCOTUS from there. Why wait for the benefit of his good counsel?
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