In the summer of 2007 Harriet Myers and Joshua Bolton, two key players in the Bush administration, were held in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear to testify regarding the U.S. Attorney firings, in defiance of a congressional subpoena requiring them to do so. The Bush administration is claiming executive privilege.

John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary, then filed a resolution that was passed on Feb. 14, authorizing the filing of a civil suit to enforce the subpoenas if Michael Mukasey, the attorney General, would not do so.

Just yesterday, on Feb. 28, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. “Taylor is required by law to bring the matter before a grand jury. However, Mukasey has indicated that the Justice Department intends to prevent Taylor from complying with the law.” So Pelosi also sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey stating: “If, however, you intend to persist in preventing Mr. Taylor from carrying out his statutory obligation to present this matter to the grand jury in the District of Columbia, we respectfully request that you inform us of that decision within one week from today, so that the House may proceed with a civil enforcement suit in federal district court.” The full text of both letters can be found here.

Let us hope that Speaker Pelosi and the House Judiciary Committee are successful in holding these two members of the Bush administration accountable, and that they no longer get away with flouting the law.

BB,

Vivienne

Tags: Current Events, Government, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon //