Boehner: House won't arrest Lois Lerner

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- Could this be the end of the line for the House's pursuit of Lois Lerner?

House Speaker John Boehner, during an interview with Fox News Sunday, acknowledged that the House does have the power to direct the sergeant-at-arms to arrest the former IRS official, but ruled out the possibility that he would do so.

"There is a provision in the Constitution that has never been used," Boehner said. "And so that's -- I'm not quite sure we want to go down that path. I'm not sure it's an appropriate way to go about this."

Months of investigation culminated with a vote in the House last week to hold Lerner in contempt after she refused to testify on the alleged targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

The contempt resolution called on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether the IRS put Tea Party groups under extra scrutiny in its process for determining tax-exempt status.

"It's up to the Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute this, to assign someone to prosecute the case," Boehner said. "Now, will he do it? We don't know. But the ball is in his court."

"It's up to Eric Holder to do his job," he said.