(CNN) -- Acting on a conservative battle cry and potentially triggering a court battle with the Obama administration, the Republican-led House voted Wednesday to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about her agency's targeting of conservative and other groups. The 231-187 vote fell almost entirely along party lines, a decision that cut across three sharp divides: balance of power issues between the branches of government, political questions over the IRS scandal, and a Constitutional debate over Lerner's individual Fifth Amendment rights. Lerner is in the middle of that trio. Until she retired last year, she ran the IRS division in charge of tax exempt status. An inspector general's report concluded her staff had inappropriately targeted Tea Party and other groups for extra scrutiny.
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Contempt vote fell almost entirely along party lines in Republican-controlled House
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Former IRS official Lois Lerner has exercised her Fifth Amendment rights in testimony
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The vote sets up a possible legal fight between Congress and the Obama administration
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The House has aggressively investigated IRS targeting of conservative groups
The problem for @placeholder has been that as their base clamors for action and high-ranking heads to roll on the scandal, neither Lerner nor anyone at the IRS has provided information linking the controversy to the White House.