House Holds Barr and Ross in Contempt Over Census Dispute

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by idarknight
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And an effort by the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to obtain Mr. Trump’s personal and business tax returns has already been redirected to federal court after the Treasury Department refused to comply with requests and subpoenas.

Wednesday would be the first time the House actually voted to hold a government official in contempt in one of the fights. The Judiciary Committee recommended that the House do so with Mr. Barr in the dispute over Mr. Mueller’s evidence. But the two sides struck a last-minute deal to avoid a formal contempt vote and the House merely voted to authorize court action to enforce the subpoena.

The only other direct precedent for Tuesday’s vote was in 2012, when Republicans then in control of the House held Mr. Holder in contempt in connection with requests for information about the botched Fast and Furious gun trafficking investigation. Republicans ended up suing the Obama administration in the case and ultimately prevailed, but the case took years to wind its way thought the courts and could have gone on longer if the Obama administration had continued to appeal.

The outcome in the census case could take just as long, potentially outlasting Mr. Trump’s term unless the two sides reach an agreement.

The Democrats specifically say the two cabinet secretaries “obstructed and delayed” an oversight committee investigation that began in January. Mr. Ross provided sworn testimony to the committee in March 2018 in which he said he had decided to add the question “solely” based on a December 2017 request from the Justice Department asking for data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But documents revealed in court and evidence collected by the committee in interviews and document requests indicated that the decision may have been more complicated. The possibility of adding a citizenship question, long a dream of Republicans active in redistricting fights, was pitched to the Trump campaign, the evidence showed, and was discussed by White House officials in early 2017. Mr. Ross himself sought to add a citizenship question before the Justice Department request and personally sought its assistance in September 2017.

When Mr. Cummings issued subpoenas for documents related to departmental decision making, neither the Justice Department nor the Commerce Department fully complied, he said, producing records that were heavily blacked out or already public.

Blu3Army73 on July 17th, 2019 at 22:49 UTC »

Watched it happen live on C-Span. The stark contrast of how important/dramatic this feels as a private cirizen versus how calmly and almost inconsequentially it occured in the House is truly bizarre, yet somehow a little reassuring?

pipsdontsqueak on July 17th, 2019 at 22:27 UTC »

WASHINGTON — The House voted Wednesday evening to hold Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for their refusal to turn over key documents related to the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The citations for two cabinet officials, approved 230-198, will breathe new life into a dispute that has touched all three branches of government over why Trump administration officials pushed to ask census respondents if they were American citizens and what that question’s impact would be.

Democrats investigating the issue believe that the documents and testimony being shielded would confirm that the administration’s long-stated rationale for collecting the data — to better enforce the Voting Rights Act — was merely a cover for a politically motivated attempt to eliminate noncitizens from population statistics used to allocate political representation, diminishing Democratic power.

scaredofcheese on July 17th, 2019 at 22:26 UTC »

Yep. Fuck these guys. This will further authorize the ongoing legal push.