Right-wing Republican attempts to force vote on inherent contempt of Merrick Garland

A right-wing Republican from Florida filed a resolution that will force the House to vote on holding Attorney Merrick Garland in a rarely used form of contempt of Congress.

A motion to refer a resolution by Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida to the House Rules Committee to hold Garland in “inherent contempt of Congress.”

The House voted in an attempt to refer the resolution to the Rules Committee, which would effectively killed it. Four Republicans--Mike Turner and David Joyce of Ohio and John Duarte and Tom McClintock of California--voted with Democrats to refer it to Rules, which would have tabled the resolution.

The failure of the motion to refer the resolution

Congress has three different types of contempt powers: criminal, civil and inherent contempt, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. But once Congress votes for criminal contempt, the executive branch has sole discretion to prosecute. Shortly after the House had voted to hold Garland in contempt earlier this year, the Justice Department announced it would not prosecute Garland.

Civil contempt allows for Congress to enforce a subpoena through a lawsuit, but that relies soley on the courts.

The third type, inherent contempt, has not been used in decades and gives Congress the authority to impose sanctions on people violating a contempt of Congress resolution rather than rely on the executive or judicial branch. It allows for the person held in contempt to be taken into custody to be brought before the House or Senate and allow for a “trial” to determine guilt or innocence.

Luna’s resolution would have held Garland in “inherent contempt” — meaning it would have required him to pay $10,000 per day that he did not