House wants quick court ruling in contempt case
Justice Department vows appeals to slow down case
Now that a contempt of Congress criminal case against two Bush administration figures has finally gone before a judge, the House Judiciary is asking the court for a quick ruling in the case. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers, who are representing officials who failed to respond to congressional subpoenas, are trying to slow down proceedings and have promised legal maneuvers to achieve their goals.
Politico's John Bresnahan reports that House lawyers filed court papers outlining their intention to seek "partial summary judgement" against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers, who refused to appear before the Judiciary Committee during its investigation into the US Attorney firings last year.
The appeal for summary judgement focuses on two issues, he reports:
[F]irst, that Miers failed to even appear in response to a Judiciary Committee subpoena seeking information or documents she might have on the prosecutor purge; and second, the failure of Bolten or Miers to provide a "privilege log when withholding documents' on the grounds of executive privilege. President Bush asserted executive privilege in refusing to allow Bolten and Miers to appear before ,or turn over internal White House documents to, the Judiciary Committee on the firings.
The Justice Department has refused to take up a criminal investigation against the two officials, so the Judiciary Committee is taking its appeal directly to the courts.
"The Committee seeks to resolve this litigation expeditiously so that it can obtain the information sought by the subpoenas, complete its investigation, and take any resulting legislative action before the 110th Congress ends in January 2009," the General Counsel's Office stated in its filing today, according to Bresnahan.
The Justice Department blamed the House for not moving sooner to bring its contempt case to court, saying they could have acted anytime in the last seven months. The Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Bolten and Miers in July 2007.
House lawyers are hoping to have all arguments completed by mid-May, allowing for a resumption of the committee's investigation into the purge of nine federal prosecutors in 2006, which critics say were brought because those Bush-appointed prosecutors would not bring politically motivated cases against Democratic defendents. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is seeking to delay proceedings until at least July, lessening the likelihood of a ruling before this fall. Such a move would likely see the US Attorney investigation pushed to the sidelines as election campaigns heat up and could preclude any further action from Congress before Bush leaves office.
US District Court Judge John D. Bates is expected to speak to both sides about their arguments Friday.
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