I think I have officially taken up residence on the other side of the looking glass

That is the only explanation when the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee asks a witness if the president of the United States has the authority to order a suspect be buried alive...and the answer isn't a swift and reverberating "NO!"

~~BG

See you in court...

For the first time in history, the federal courts are charged with deciding whether or not congressional subpoenas of the executive branch shall be enforced. Think about that for a moment - for the first time in the history of our country, a presidential administration has been so obstinate and insistent that the rules don't apply to them that the House Judiciary Committee was forced to sue in the court system to have their constitutionally proscribed role upheld.

At issue is whether the administration can prevent White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton and former White House Council Harriet Miers from testifying before the committee about the U.S. Attorney purge scandal. The White House claims that executive privilege extends to the underlings of the executive.

John Bates, the U.S. District Judge was hesitant to grant the White House a right to defy Congressional subpoenas, but he also questioned the legal team representing the House as to whether the courts had the authority to intervene in the matter. "Whether I rule for the executive branch or I rule for the legislative branch, I'm going to disrupt the balance," Bates said.

The committee's lawsuit is the first time in U.S. history that either chamber of Congress has sued the president to force compliance with a subpoena.

House counsel Irv B. Nathan argued that Bates should order Miers to testify and allow her to invoke executive privilege only on a question-by-question basis. He also urged the judge to force Bolten to provide a log of White House documents and to explain why each was being withheld.

"Congress needs the facts," Nathan argued, adding that the White House was "holding hostage the information" lawmakers require to fairly consider legislation and other measures in the wake of the U.S. attorney scandal.

Lawyers for the current occupant argue that if the White House is forced to comply with the law it will "fundamentally alter the separation of powers." The House found Miers and Bolten in contempt of Congress in February by a vote of 232 to 32 after they refused to turn over documents or testify about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in December 2006. The House judiciary committee has been investigating the controversial firings for a year and a half, and the controversy eventually brought down Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was eventually forced to resign in disgrace.

Well! That didn't take long!

Representative Wexler issued a statement Wednesday calling for McClellan to appear before the Judiciary committee to spill his guts under oath like he did in print.

“The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq," Wexler said. "Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.

“The allegations by this former top White House aide – that Rove and Libby deliberately coordinated their stories in order to obstruct justice in the Plame case, that the President deliberately disregarded contradictory evidence related to Iraq, should outrage every American and Congress must respond by initiating immediate aggressive oversight starting with an appearance by McClellan before the House Judiciary Committee," he continued. "Any continued obstruction by this Administration to prevent White House officials from appearing before Congress cannot be tolerated by this Congress in the face of these shocking revelations.”

Heh. Long, hot summer indeed.

--BG