by Chad D. Baus

Lost in the chaos that ensued over Justice John Roberts’ decision to join the liberals and uphold Obamacare last Thursday morning was news of what occurred that very afternoon. Namely, that for the first time in American history, a sitting Attorney General was found by the United States House of Representatives to be in contempt of Congress. The vote came as a result of Eric Holder’s refusal to comply with a subpoena requiring him to release documents related to the BATFE’s gun-walking operation known as Fast & Furious, and in spite of an eleventh-hour claim of executive privilege by President Barack Obama.

Not only was the vote margin substantial (255-67 for criminal contempt and 258-95 for civil contempt), it was also bi-partisan. Seventeen Democrats joined the Republican majority in voting for the resolution to find Holder in contempt of Congress.

Among those who did NOT vote to find Holder in criminal contempt were two Ohio Congressmen who have in the past had the support of the National Rifle Association as well as Buckeye Firearms Association: Tim Ryan (D) and Steve LaTourette (R). Both must now face to their pro-gun constituency at the ballot box in November, and the NRA has announced that it will scoring the vote when it evaluates candidates for grades and endorsements.

From The News-Herald:

“Washington has enough political theater and I would rather have a judge compel the Attorney General to hand over the documents and take whatever action those documents indicate is appropriate,” LaTourette said.

Even so, not all firearms owners are comfortable, let alone, happy, with LaTourette’s seeimgly yin and yang Holder-associated votes.

Buckeye Firearms Association chairman Jim Irvine says he “respectively disagrees with the Congressman.”

“Holder is this country’s supreme law enforcement officer, and a criminal,” Irvine said. “We can’t wait; not with this Attorney General.”

Irvine says that Holder is in this particular legal pickle because of his relationship to “the cover-up” that has both riveted and also has been a distraction inside Washington’s Beltway and outside.

“This is an incredibly serious issue and it must be looked at that way,” Irvine said.

As to any possible fall-out from his pro-Second Amendment constituents, LaTourette may very well have to cross that bridge if not sooner than certainly later when he comes up for reelection on Nov. 6, Irvine says.

“Yes, I think the Congressman’s vote will have an impact but it’s too early to tell by how much,” Irvine said.

According to Wikipedia, following a criminal contempt citation, the presiding officer of the chamber is instructed to refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; according to the law it is the “duty” of the U.S. Attorney to refer the matter to a grand jury for action. However, the U.S. attorney for D.C. is an employee of none other than the U.S. Attorney General, and it appears, like to many other issues involving the Obama administration, the rule of law will not be followed.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Deputy Attorney General James Cole had informed House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) via a letter dated the same day as the vote, that he will not bring the congressional contempt citation against Holder to a federal grand jury and that his department will take no other action to prosecute the attorney general.

From the article:

“We will not prosecute an executive branch official under the contempt of Congress statute for withholding subpoenaed documents pursuant to a presidential assertion of executive privilege,” Cole wrote.

In its letter, the department relied in large part on a Justice Department legal opinion crafted during Republican Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

Frederick Hill, the spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, said it is regrettable that “the political leadership of the Justice Department” is taking that position. Issa, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, is leading the effort to get the material related to Operation Fast and Furious.

While Holder and Obama have claimed they had no knowledge of the Fast & Furious operation, which involved more than 2000 guns and led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent, it is becoming increasingly apparently that those claims, like others made by Holder in testimony before a Congressional committee, are false.