House Panel Files Suit against White HouseAnd we’re on to the next step of the Congress v. White House subpoena battle.
First, the House found Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten in contempt for refusing to respond to House Judiciary Committee subpoenas from the U.S. attorney firings investigation. Then, the Justice Department, as Attorney General Mukasey had warned it would, refused to convene a grand jury and rebuffed the criminal referral. And now we’re on to step three: a lawsuit against the administration to enforce the subpoenas.
As Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) says, “It is extremely rare that Congress must litigate in order to enforce subpoenas and no compromise can be reached. Unfortunately, this Administration simply will not negotiate towards a compromise resolution so we must proceed.”
He looks forward to “a quick and favorable ruling by the Court, so that we can complete our investigation.” The expectation on all sides, though, is that this will likely drag on for many months.
We’ll keep you updated as the case moves forward.
You can read the 36-page complaint here (pdf).