The Height of Arrogance: Obama/Holder Rogue Department of (In)Justice Refuses to Enforce the Law, Refuses to Answer Questions of Senate Committee
Ken
2012/06/13 17:57:40
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CNSNews.com
Holder Refuses to Provide Testimony on Kagan’s
Involvement in Obamacare
Holder Refuses to Provide Testimony on Kagan’s
Involvement in Obamacare
June 12, 2012
(CNSNews.com) - Attorney General Eric Holder has refused to
provide written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in
response to "questions
for the record" submitted to him by Sen. Jeff Sessions
(R.-Ala.) that focus on Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's
involvement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--AKA
Obamacare--while she was President Barack Obama's solicitor
general.
Question: “Are you aware of any instances
during Justice Kagan’s tenure as Solicitor General of the United
States in which information related to the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act and/or litigation related thereto was relayed
or provided to her?”
Question: “When did your staff begin
‘removing’ Solicitor General Kagan from meetings in this
matter? On what basis did you take this action? In what other
matters was such action taken?”
Question: “Did you ever have a conversation
with Justice Kagan regarding her recusal from matters before the
Supreme Court related to the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act? If so, please describe the circumstances and substance
of those conversations.”
These are three of the eight questions that Sessions submitted
to Holder on Nov. 15, 2011 to be included as part of the official
record of Holder’s testimony in an oversight hearing that the
Senate Judiciary Committee held on Nov. 8, 2011. Sessions is a
senior member of the committee.
Holder did not provide the committee with a formal response to
Session's questions until June 7, 2012—seven months after
Sessions submitted them.
When he finally did officially respond, Holder did not answer
any of the questions.
Instead, in responding to each, he simply referred the
Judiciary Committee to a letter
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich had sent to Sessions on
Feb. 24. This letter, in turn, responded to a letter
Sessions had sent to Holder on Jan. 31 noting that Holder had not
yet answered the questions that Session had submitted in November.
Weich’s February letter informed Sessions directly that the
Justice Department would decline to answer his questions to Holder
about Kagan’s involvement in Obamacare. [On
what possible grounds? There's certainly no attorney-client or any
other privilege attaching to factual questions regarding Kagan's
involvement in the defense of Obamacare!]
Back in March 2010, on the same day that President Obama signed
his health care law, Florida and Virginia sued the administration
challenging the law in federal court. At that time, Elena Kagan
was Obama’s solicitor general, and her job was to defend his
administration’s position in federal court disputes.
Obama did not nominate Kagan to the Supreme Court until May 10,
2010--seven weeks after he had signed the health care law and
Florida and Virginia had filed their suits against it. Kagan
did not recuse herself from her duties as solicitor general until
after Obama nominated her to the court.
. . . .
A federal law, 28 USC 455, says that a
Supreme Court justice must recuse from “any proceeding in which his/[her]
impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or anytime he/[she] has
“expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case
in controversy” while he/[she] “served in governmental employment.”
Comment:
This is the height of arrogance – the Obama administration is in
blatant violation of the law! Elena Kagan was clearly involved in
the defense of lawsuits against the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) and was required by law to
recuse herself from hearings on those lawsuits. The language in 28
USC 455 is “must recuse” – that means recusal is not
permissive, it is mandatory – yet the the rogue Department of
Justice under this administration not only refuses to enforce the
law, it refuses to even respond to questions from the Senate
Judiciary Committee which has oversight in the matter.
Read the entire story here: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/holder-refuses-provide-testimony-kagan-s-involvement-obamacare
Top Opinion
-
maggiemay 2012/06/13 18:08:21
Impeach, indict, remove from office and strip in benefits.
Lately, a week seldom passes when we are not reminded of the conspicuous contempt that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales holds for Congress, and the damage he is doing to the Department of Justice.
This week, Gonzales was again shown to have lied to Congress; his ineptitude as Attorney General has resurfaced in litigation that is going to damage the government; and after ignoring a subpoena from the Senate, he made a belated but insufficient response following an angry letter from the Senate.
It's been clear for a while - and is becoming ever clearer - that the Attorney General ought to resign, or to be fired. Now, it seems that Congress is determined to force Gonzales from office or send him to jail, whichever they can do first.
82 days since Harriet Miers ignored a Congressional subpoena to appear.
61 days since Karl Rove ignored a Congressional subpoena to appear and produce documents.
61 days since Scott Jennings ignored a Congressional subpoena to appear and produce documents.
When will Congress act on this?
In 2007, then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ignored a subpoena from the Oversight Committee, saying that she was "not inclined" to comply.
During the same period, then-chair of the Republican National Committee rejected a pair of subpoenas when it turned out that Bush Administration officials were conducting business with email addresses provided by the RNC. Issa has since criticized the Obama Administration's documenting of personal email accounts without re-examining this case. In fact, Issa defended the RNC and criticized attempts to investigate.
Answer: Republicans have integrity which is sorely lacking among Demorats.
In 2007, then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ignored a subpoena from the Oversight Committee, saying that she was "not inclined" to comply.
During the same period, then-chair of the Republican National Committee rejected a pair of subpoenas when it turned out that Bush Administration officials were conducting business with email addresses provided by the RNC. Issa has since criticized the Obama Administration's documenting of personal email accounts without re-examining this case. In fact, Issa defended the RNC and criticized attempts to investigate.