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Excerpt from www.npr.org
Take the news of this past week, when the House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. Garland is only the third attorney general to be held in criminal contempt of Congress since the beginning of the American Republic in the 1780s.
That seems like a pretty big deal. On the other hand, much of the news coverage over the past few days has dismissed any thought of Garland being sent to jail or even prosecuted. So the net effect of his contempt citation might well be zero.
The Justice Department has already informed House Speaker Mike Johnson it will not prosecute Garland. Johnson has already responded that the House would go to court to seek enforcement of the citation without the cooperation of Justice.
Beyond that, the House could spend much of the time it has remaining this year on an impeachment proceeding. But the only official impeached in the current Congress, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, had his case summarily dismissed in the Senate.
So that suggests “contempt of Congress” is not such a big deal.
