Contempt of Congress

I think the time has come for Congress to accept the fact that the administration holds them in contempt, and does so on needle-point Constitutional grounds. Leahy gave the administration until July 18 to produce the warrantless wiretapping items he'd requested and Bush waited exactly one day to give Leahy and Conyers the finger.

President Bush, moving toward a constitutional showdown with Congress, asserted executive privilege Thursday and rejected lawmakers' demands for documents that could shed light on the firings of federal prosecutors.

The new subpoenas are part of a potentially more damning investigation. I wonder how Bush will respond to them, don't you? Quoth Steve Benen:

Last week, The Hill reported, "House Judiciary Committee Democrats warned yesterday they would pursue a contempt of Congress motion if the White House fails respond to subpoenas for testimony and documents related to the firings of U.S. attorneys last year." Stay tuned.

This should be clear to everybody: Whether it's Condoleezza Rice ignoring her call to appear in front of Waxman, or Gonzales refusing to hand over written responses and other documents to Conyers, or Bush and Cheney declining to provide answers or information of any kind to Leahy RE wiretaps, the administration will stonewall any Congressional investigation it wants to. The president has realized that there's little left to lose politically by ignoring the law, so he'll do it as long as he can. In fact, he may get away with it all the way through 2008. But if there's one thing these oversight chairman should not do, it's confirm to the public what the public already suspects--that every time Bush puffs his chest at Congress, Congress flinches, releases mean-sounding statements of disappointment at Bush's refusal to cooperate, and moves on to the next issue.