Contempt of Congress

Contempt of Congress citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and one-time Counsel Harriet Miers were approved by the House Judiciary Committee today, setting up a constitutional confrontation over the firings of federal prosecutors.

The No Justice Department, under advisement from the president, said it would block the citations from prosecution as Bush has declared the information Congress is demanding is protected by executive privilege. Contempt of Congress is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to a $100,000 fine and a one-year prison sentence. If the citation wins support in the full House, it would be forwarded to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia - a Bush appointee - and be DOA. Maybe they should just go ahead and use the "inherent contempt" option and avoid outside interference. . .

James Sensenbrenner former GOP chair of the committee, had another suggestion. "Go to court to directly challenge the White House stand instead. The proper thing to do is to determine the executive privilege claim aside from who said what, who refused to submit to what, who didn't show up to subpoena," he said. "The real argument here is not over the audacity of the White House, but over the strength of the legal argument.

Chairman John Conyers will consider that suggestion, but added that the committee could not allow presidential aides to flout Congress' authority."If we countenance a process where our subpoenas can be readily ignored, where a witness under a duly authorized subpoena doesn't even have to bother to show up, where privilege can be asserted on the thinnest basis and in the broadest possible manner, then we have already lost," Conyers, D-Mich., said before the vote. "We won't be able to get anybody in front of this committee or any other."

Speaker Pelosi said the House effort was important regardless of outcome and "is part of a broader effort by House Democrats to restore our nation's fundamental system of checks and balances. I am hopeful that today's vote will help the administration see the light and release the information to which the Judiciary Committee is entitled".