The House Judiciary Committee approved a contempt of Congress citation on Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and one-time counsel Harriet Miers, setting up a constitutional confrontation over the firings of federal prosecutors.
The Justice Department said it would block the citation from prosecution because information Congress is demanding is protected by executive privilege. The Democratic leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the House effort was important nonetheless.
The contempt proceedings, she said, "are part of a broader effort by House Democrats to restore our nation's fundamental system of checks and balances."
PHOTO: EPA
Wednesday's action followed nearly seven months of an investigation into whether the US attorney firings were directed by the White House to influence corruption cases in favor of Republican candidates. The administration has denied that, but also has invoked executive privilege to shield internal White House deliberations on the matter.
The 22-17 committee vote -- which would sanction the pair for failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings -- advanced the citation to the full House. A vote there is possible later this year.
"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," Pelosi said.
Not likely. The White House has consistently dismissed the effort as legally moot because President George W. Bush has declared the information off-limits under executive privilege.
Presidents from both parties have invoked executive privilege, arguing that aides will give them more candid advice if they know they will not be called to testify before congressional committees under oath.
White House Counsel Fred Fielding has said Miers, Bolten and other top presidential aides are immune from congressional subpoenas. The Justice Department let the committee know that any House-passed contempt citation that might be forwarded to the US attorney for grand jury consideration would not be allowed to proceed.
"This is something that the drafters of this particular referral know has very little chance of going anywhere," White House spokesman Tony Snow said just after Wednesday's vote.
He likened the Democrat-driven investigation into the firings to "throwing mud against the wall and hoping something's going to stick."
"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 said before the vote.
Conyers subpoenaed Miers and Bolten last month, but neither responded.
Contempt of Congress would be a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to a US$100,000 fine and a one-year prison sentence. If the citation wins support in the full House, it would be forwarded to the US attorney for the District of Columbia -- a Bush appointee.
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