You know those Congressional subpoenas that Harriet Miers and others in the Bush administration have decided to ignore? Normally the procedure is for Congress to issue a contempt citation and then deliver it to the US District Attorney to enforce by placing the person refusing to answer the subpoena in jail. Well, now the Bushies have decided that since they own the Department of Justice, they don’t have to enforce no stinking subpoenas:
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.
Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.” […]
“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.”
Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration’s stance “astonishing.”
It’s more than astonishing. It’s an impeachable offense. But then there have been so many impeachable offenses committed by this White House, it’s hard to keep track. I expect the Democrats to back down and go off to whimper about how the big, bad Bush administration is behaving atrociously while also continuing to tell us that “impeachment is off the table” because they have other priorities.
I guess being slapped in the face repeatedly by the most unpopular President in a generation counts as one of those priorities. I’d love them to prove me wrong, but I don’t think they will.