Inherently Contemptible

Former White House Counsel Hariet Miers has once again refused to appear before the House Judiciary committee in response to a subpoena requiring her testimony regarding what she knew of the US Attorney firings. Miers, through her lawyer, indicated she was refusing because President Bush had exerted Executive Privilege and ordered her not to appear.

While this privilege has a clear purpose and precedent, it has in the past been applied to documents from the Executive branch, and potential testimony from those currently working within the Executive branch. Even then, it's not absolute -- Nixon was forced to hand over tapes, and Clinton aides were forced to testify regarding the Lewinsky scandal, both times overriding privilege claims.

This makes Miers' refusal to appear on claims of Executive Privilege grounds apparently unprecedented for at least two reasons (warning, I am most certainly not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV):

1. Miers is a private individual, she is no longer part of the Executive Branch. As such, on what basis would any claim of Executive Privilege extend to her person?

2. To assert a refusal to testify, one has to actually appear. Using a claim of privilege as a defense against appearing at all is a new wrinkle.

Miers could have taken the approach another former Deputy Assistant to the president Sara Taylor did and appeared before the committee but refuse to answer certain questions by asserting the administration's privilege claims. These claims are debatable, but at least it shows some respect for Congress and the process.

Miers, however, has chosen to not show up at all. She has shown no respect for Congress. Congress should respond in the same vein.

Committee Chairman John Conyers is quoted by Fox news as saying "Her failure to comply with our subpoena is a serious affront to this committee and our constitutional system of checks and balances. We are carefully planning our next steps."

Those steps could include hearings on contempt charges both within the committee and the full House. If the House votes to press charges (likely, in my opinion -- even Republicans will not like seeing a precedent set where private individuals can refuse subpoena's issued by Congress), it would fall upon the District Attorney for the District of Colombia to prosecute .... or not. The DA in question, Jeff Taylor, is a Bush appointee, and there is precedent for a DA refusing to prosecute a Contempt of Congress charge.

So skip the preliminaries and move straight to Inherent Contempt proceedings. Enough pussyfooting around. Congressional satisfaction numbers are historically low largely because people feel Congress is not doing enough to rein in the Bush administration. This applies largely to Iraq, but extends to other issues as well.

Let's get the show on the road. Get the Sergeant-at-arms on the next plane to Texas and haul her back in front of the House, kicking and screaming if needed.