King George

The Bush Admnistration looked into it, and they can't seem to find any limits to their own power.

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

The position presents serious legal and political obstacles for congressional Democrats, who have begun laying the groundwork for contempt proceedings against current and former White House officials in order to pry loose information about the dismissals.

We are talking about the Bush White House obstructing an investigation by ordering the US Attorney for DC not to file charges in a contempt of Congress case. This will probably be kicked upstairs to the courts. But think about the case that the President is making here. He's saying that the mere assertion of executive privilege is enough to nullify the Congress' Constitutional role. They're saying that Congress has no power to pursue "force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges" in this case, while simultaneously forcing the US Attorney to NOT pursue those charges.

"A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case," said a senior official, who said his remarks reflect a consensus within the administration. "And a U.S. attorney wouldn't be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen."

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, added: "It has long been understood that, in circumstances like these, the constitutional prerogatives of the president would make it a futile and purely political act for Congress to refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys."

The other option for the Congress is inherent contempt, which they should do with all deliberate speed. This is what John Conyers wrote to White House Counsel Fred Fielding just yesterday:

This letter is to formally notify you that I must insist on compliance with the subpoena, and that Mr. Bolten's failure to promptly mitigate his noncompliance could result in contempt proceedings, including, but not limited to proceedings under 2 U.S.C §§ 192, 194 or under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives. In light of Chairwoman Sanchez's ruling, we strongly urge immediate production of the responsive documents pursuant to the subpoena. Please let me know in writing by 10 a.m. on Monday July 23, 2007. whether Mr. Bolten will comply. If I do not hear from you in the affirmative by then, the Committee will have no choice but to consider appropriate recourse.

Inherent contempt is a rarely-used tactic where the Congress can direct the Sergeant-at-arms to arrest someone for failure to comply. The House merely must apply a majority vote for this to commence. I don't see that they have a choice. Harriet Miers is flat-out not complying with a subpoena and thumbing her nose at Congress. What else can you do?