The House of Reps could have the House Sergeant at Arms arrest Lerner and the IRS thugs that have ‘lost’ the emails RIGHT NOW and hold them indefinitely until they testify completely and truthfully to the oversight committee.
So the 5th Amendment means nothing? Anyone who pleads the 5th can be arrested and thrown in jail?
First on all, Lerner has already been held in Contempt of Congress on May 7, 2014 of this year.
Second, lets look at the relevant section of the 5th Amendment
...nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself
Congress is not a court and it does not conduct criminal cases. It is investigating the operation of the government of which it has TOTAL oversight. Lerner was a government employee acting as an agent of the government committing official crimes against the American people. She wasn't stealing office supplies for her own personal use.
Third, there is no settled law or court decision that says a government employee being investigated for their action in a official capacity can plead the 5th Amendment to a Congressional oversight committee. Everyone just assumes it.
Fourth, its my opinion that the black robed tyrants that ruled in Watkins v. United States and Quinn v. United States that Communists had 5th Amendment protections from Congressional investigations had willfully subverted the law and the Constitution for the express purpose of protecting and advancing the cause of Globo-Marxism.