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Politics

Bush defies subpoena for documents in attorney firings

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 29, 2007

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.

Bush's attorney told Congress the White House would not turn over subpoenaed documents for former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor. Congressional panels want the documents for their investigations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' stewardship of the Justice Department, including complaints of undue political influence.

Ever since George Washington refused to release his War Department correspondence, presidents have asserted their authority to keep Congress from probing into presidential affairs. The skirmish is part of a long-standing power struggle between the executive and legislative branches, a fight that the courts have historically avoided.

If executive privilege isn't a law, how can the president just refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena?

It's a principle rather than a law. It's rooted in the idea that the three branches of government must be independent. The president is basically telling Congress that, to do his job, he needs to be able to have private conversations with his advisers.

Didn't the Supreme Court settle this when it ordered President Richard Nixon to surrender his Watergate tapes?

No. The 1974 decision in U.S. vs. Nixon held that the president could not withhold the tapes from federal prosecutors as part of a criminal investigation. The high court made it clear it wasn't wading into the thorny issue of whether presidents can refuse demands from Congress.

What happens now?

As a practical matter, the two sides likely will negotiate until they reach a compromise. That's how it normally has worked, because neither side wants this to escalate into a court battle.

If the line is so murky, why not fight this out and resolve it for good?

Nobody wants to lose. The White House knows that the judicial branch has not recently been kind to the presidency in fights over subpoenas, and the privilege they are asserting is not rooted in the Constitution. Lawmakers, meanwhile, risk seeing a judge permanently curtail their power to summon presidential aides to Capitol Hill.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 00:53:37]