Well, Congress has taken the next step in getting into a Constitutional slap-down with the White House, with the House Judiciary Committee citing Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers with Contempt of Congress (which then requires a full House vote to confirm it). Bolton and Miers, of course, were ordered by the White House not to testify under oath before Congress regarding the whole Federal Attorney Firing Scandal.
To be sure, for a Contempt citation to stick, it has to be pursued by the Department of Justice. And, just to make things interesting, the White House has informed the DoJ that they are not to enforce any Contempt citation related to a Presidential exercise of Executive Privilege. I.e., just like the mantra of “National Security,” the Executive gets to do what it damn well pleases, and neither the Legislature nor (heaven forbid) the Judiciary gets to weigh in on the matter.
So, if Bush & Co. stick to their guns — what comes next? If they just keep saying, “Nope, can’t do anything to us, and anything you try to do that would invalidate executive prerogative we just won’t consider to be valid itself –” what can Congress actually do? Does even impeachment hold any real threat?
When folks are shamelessly obdurate, what is “reasonable to expect” goes out the door.
Next is Inherent contempt
So, they could try and imprison them in the capital until this congress ends its term….which I am liking more and more as an idea.
Someone did note in an NPR article today that there’s still a jail cell in the basement of the Capitol.
Never get Bush down there of course … but isn’t there someone in the White House who’s also part of the Legislative branch …? 🙂
You’d have to paint crosses on the walls and bars to keep him in. And they’d have to feed him his daily kitten blood…
I thought he ate radioactive fuel pellets and motor oil. The kitten blood us just for entertainment purposes.
But what about the Man Sized Safes?
Well, solar flare activity has been known to interfere with the circuitry …