The big “will she, won’t she?” dance on Capitol Hill was solved this morning when Dallas lawyer and former Texas Bar Association President and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers no-showed the House Judiciary Subcommittee.
She was supposed to give evidence on the ever-growing US attorney firing scandal, but instead took the White House line that executive privilege trumps House subpoena powers. Bad news for her: the subcommittee just voted 7-5 that Miers was bound to at least show up. This means she’s now open to contempt charges.
President Bush‘s interpretation of executive privilege stretched the credulity of constitutional scholars. In a very pointed letter to her lawyers yesterday, the subcommittee made it clear where they stood: “Even if a witness intends to assert privilege in response to a subpoena, that intention to assert privilege does not obviate the obligation to appear.” Legalese for “turn up, or we’ll hold you in contempt.”
Miers’ case probably wasn’t helped by fellow witness and former White House aide Sara Taylor turning up Wednesday to answer questions selectively, even though she was under the same “no-show” orders from her former bosses.
Meanwhile, Bush himself was telling a press conference that the first conviction of a ranking member of his administration, Scooter Libby, was old news and they should move on. Fortunately for the White House press pack, his former staff were doing their best at the other end of the Capital Mall to give them something new to chew on.
This article appears in July 6 • 2007.
