Bush Aides Can Be Subpoenaed

Suck on this:

President George W. Bush's top advisers aren't immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches.

The House Judiciary Committee wants to question the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former legal counsel Harriet Miers, about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. But President Bush says they are immune from such subpoenas. They say Congress can't force them to testify or turn over documents.

U.S. District Judge John Bates disagreed. He said there's no legal basis for that argument. He said that Ms. Miers must appear before Congress and, if she wants to refuse to testify, she must do so in person.

Now if Congress will subpoena them...

Bolten and Miers Held in Contempt

Congress does its job.

A Little Less Conversation

A little more action:

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to hold two top aides to President George W. Bush in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate in its probe of fired federal prosecutors.

On a largely party-line vote of 11-7, the Democratic-led panel sent contempt citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to the full Senate for consideration.

All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me. Reuters notes that Republicans can use procedural hurdles, but they can't stop the Capitol police from hauling in Rove and Bolten's asses if they don't respond to subpoenas, which they haven't.