The answer of Federal District Court Judge John D. Bates to the Bushies argument for why Karl Rove, Harriet Miers et al. can blow off a subpoena to appear before Congress can be condensed as such:
"The Executive presents a litany of contrary arguments, all of which are unavailing."
Last June, Congress subpoenaed former Bush legal counsel Harriet Miers to answer questions about the political retribution firings of numerous United States Attorneys in the Justice Department. Even though Miers had left the Bush administration and was a private citizen, she said she was told by Bush that she could not testify before Congress. On what grounds? That the President had deciderered that all senior presidential staff have absolute immunity to refuse to testify before Congress -- forevah.
So Congress took Miers, Bush and the whole crooked crew to federal district court. Republican, Bush-appointed federal judge John Bates heard the case and bodyslammed Bush. Here are some quotes from Judge Bates' 93-page decision. [Note: In Bates' decision, "Executive" refers to Bush; "Committee" is the House Judiciary Committee.]
Judge Catches Bushies Telling Him Lies
"[T]he Executive takes the Committee to task for failing to utilize its inherent contempt authority. But there are serious problems presented by the prospect of inherent contempt, not the least of which is that the Executive is attempting to have it both ways on this point."
"At the very least, however, the Executive cannot simultaneously question the sufficiency and availability of an alternative remedy but nevertheless insist that the Committee must attempt to “exhaust” it before a civil cause of action is available."
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