On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted on whether or not to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to release the full, unredacted version of the Mueller Report. Barr denied the request even after a court-ordered subpoena required him to do so. The committee voted 24-16 in favor of holding Barr in contempt. But what does that mean?

According to Merriam-Webster, contempt is defined to be “considered by the court to have broken the law by disobeying or disrespecting the judge.” In short, by ignoring his court-issued subpoena, Attorney General Barr was accused of violating the law.

According to the Guardian, “there are three types of contempt referrals Congress can pursue: criminal statutory contempt, which would be prosecuted by the justice department; civil contempt, which would be enforced by the courts under a lawsuit; or inherent contempt, under which Congress can use its own authority to fine or jail an individual.” The House Judiciary Committee will likely pursue civil contempt, since the justice department is run by Barr, and a jail sentence may come across as a partisan move. However, this lawsuit can take months or even years to come across, and we may have a new Attorney General by the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, Barr still holds his position as Attorney General of the United States. This is concerning to many people, including LHS senior Sara Bitter. She wonders how he can still work as a US official with these charges against him. “He committed a crime, how is he able to represent the United States when he can’t be trusted?”