Washington – The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday he was ready to go to court if the White House resisted subpoenas for information on the firing of federal prosecutors.
“If they don’t cooperate, yes, I’ll go that far,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
He was asked in a broadcast interview whether he would seek a congressional vote on contempt citations if President Bush did not comply, a move that would push the matter to court.
“They’ve chosen confrontation rather than compromise or cooperation,” Leahy said. “The bottom line is in the U.S. attorney investigation, we have people manipulating law enforcement. Law enforcement can’t be partisan.”
At issue is whether the White House exerted undue political influence in the firing of federal prosecutors. Leahy’s hardening stance is pushing the Democratic-led investigation ever closer to a constitutional showdown over executive power and Congress’ right to oversight.
The White House accused the committee of overreaching.
“After thousands of pages of documents, interviews and testimony by Justice Department officials, it’s clear that there’s simply no merit for this overreach,” presidential spokesman Tony Fratto said.
He said Leahy “is seeking access to candid and confidential deliberations from the president’s advisers – an intrusion he would never subject his own staff to. We have gone to great lengths to accommodate the committee in their oversight responsibilities.”
Separately, the Senate has subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office for documents related to the administration’s legal basis for conducting warrant-free eavesdropping on people in the United States.
Leahy and Rep. John Con yers, D-Mich., who heads the House Judiciary Committee, have demanded a White House explanation by July 9 as to its basis for claiming executive privilege in refusing to turn over additional documents.
The two lawmakers have said that regardless of whether the White House meets the deadline, they would begin acting to enforce the subpoenas as appropriate under the law.
Legal experts have been somewhat divided over the scope of a president’s power to shield information and ensure candid advice from top aides. The dispute, if it does head to court, could take months and ultimately outlast the remaining term of Bush’s presidency, which ends in January 2009.
