Constitutional Perfect Storm (almost)

[guayiya]

For Congress to depend on judicial assistance here would betray a 
striking defect of congressional power.  There are effective 
alternatives, if public opinion would support them.  
Of course,  that requires  leadership.  What are the presidential 
candidates saying?  Or do they not want to weaken the office to which 
they aspire?
Daniel Hoffman

Gordon Silverstein wrote:

>Bush has now "ordered" Harriet Miers to refuse to appear before
>Congressional Committee and to ignore the subpeona, arguing she has
>unqualified and total immunity from congressional investigations.
>
>That's a constitutional confrontation of the first order, to be sure. But
>... imagine if Miers had been confirmed to the Supreme Court?
>
>Congress would be issuing a subpeona to a sitting Supreme Court Justice who
>would be under "orders" from the President to refuse to testify, generating
>a sure-fire Supreme Court test of the powers of congressional committees to
>compel testimony ... the perfect storm of separation of powers
>confrontations ..... 
>
>
>
>July 11, 2007
>Miers Will Not Appear Before Committee, Lawyer Says 
>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>Filed at 4:05 p.m. ET
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush ordered his former White House counsel,
>Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify
>Thursday before a House panel investigating U.S. attorney firings.
>
>''Ms. Miers has absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony as
>to matters occurring while she was a senior adviser to the president,''
>White House Counsel Fred Fielding wrote in a letter to Miers' lawyer, George
>T. Manning.
>
>Manning, in turn, notified committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that
>Miers would not show up Thursday to answer questions about the White House
>role in the firings of eight federal prosecutors over the winter.
>
>
>
>  
>
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