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The New York Times
Defying the Imperial
Presidency
EDITORIAL,
nytimes.com on the Web. July 26, 2007
The House Judiciary Committee did its
duty yesterday, voting to cite Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel,
and Joshua Bolten, the White House chief of staff, for contempt. The Bush
administration has been acting lawlessly in refusing to hand over information
that Congress needs to carry out its responsibility to oversee the executive
branch and investigate its actions when needed. If the White House
continues its obstruction, Congress should use all of the contempt powers at its
disposal.
The committee really had no choice but to hold Ms. Miers in contempt. When
she was subpoenaed to testify about the administration’s possibly illegal purge
of nine United States attorneys, she simply refused to show up, citing executive
privilege. Invoking privilege in response to particular questions might
have been warranted — the courts could have decided that later. But simply
flouting a Congressional subpoena is not an option.
Mr. Bolten has refused to provide Congress with documents it requested in the
attorney purge investigation, also citing privilege, and he has been equally
unforthcoming about why he thinks it applies. Together, Ms. Miers’s and
Mr. Bolten’s response to Congress has simply been: “Go away” — a position
that finds no support in the Constitution.
If these privilege claims make it to court, it is likely that Ms. Miers and Mr.
Bolten will lose. The Supreme Court has held that a president’s interest
in keeping communications private must be balanced against an investigator’s
need for them. In this case, the president’s privacy interest is minimal,
since the White House has said he was not involved in purging the United States
attorneys. Congress’s need for the information, though, is substantial.
It has already turned up an array of acts by administration officials that may
have been criminal.
The administration’s contemptuous attitude toward the constitutional role of
Congress was on display again this week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He repeatedly refused to
answer legitimate questions, and he contradicted himself so frequently that it
is hard to believe he was even trying to tell the truth.
Congress must not capitulate in the White House’s attempt to rob it of its
constitutional powers. Now that the committee has acted, the whole House
must vote to hold Ms. Miers and Mr. Bolten in contempt. The administration
has indicated that it is unlikely to allow the United States attorney for the
District of Columbia to bring Congress’s contempt charges before a grand jury.
That would be a regrettable stance. But if the administration sticks to
it, Congress can and should proceed against Ms. Miers and Mr. Bolten on its own,
using its inherent contempt powers.
It is not too late for President Bush to spare the country the trauma, and
himself the disgrace, of this particular constitutional showdown. There is
a simple way out. He should direct Ms. Miers and Mr. Bolten to provide
Congress with the information to which it is entitled.
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