Simply Claiming Privilege Don’t Make It So
The Bush Administration is trying to keep its people from testifying by invoking Executive privilege. Judge Bates rebuked them on this score in July, and now he’s saying they have no leg to stand on in an appeal. It appears he is going to compel testimony by Harriet Miers and others. Don’t hold your breath, though.
U. S. District Court Judge John D. Bates is going to make Harriet Miers and others in the Administration testify before Congress. Oh, the Bush Administration will still appeal his rulings from a last month, where this “Activist Judge,” appointed by Bush himself, decided that the White House is answerable to Congress. The White House thinks it has substantive reason to win on appeal, though their thinking is a bit muddled. They are saying Miers et. al. should not testify before Congress because they are protected, given that they give advice to the President. Alas, the President says he knew nothing about the subject under investigation, the US Attorney scandal. I suppose that’s where Judge Bates is going when he says this, from the Washington Post:
In his ruling yesterday, Bates wrote that “Ms. Miers’ testimony may help Congress finally determine what remedial legislative steps, if any, should be taken in response to the forced resignations.”
The judge also wrote that the administration “has supplied no justification, and the court cannot fathom one, for its failure to turn over non-privileged documents to the committee.”
. . .
The Bush administration asserted that neither Miers nor Bolten should be forced to comply with congressional subpoenas while the government appeals Bates’s previous ruling.
The judge rejected that argument, however, writing that “it is difficult to see how the Executive can demonstrate that it has a substantial likelihood of success on appeal, or even that a serious legal question is presented.”
Bates added: “Simply calling an issue important — primarily because it involves the relationship of the political branches — does not transform the Executive’s weak arguments into a likelihood of success or a substantial appellate issue.”
I wonder how far Bates is going to take this, and I’ve no real answer for that. One thing I am sure of is that the Bush Administration will try every whiney excuse in their repertoire to try and keep its people from testifying to their breaking the law in connection with the US Attorney scandal. Most of us are going to be too preoccupied with the election this fall to follow this too closely, or so the Bushies are hoping. As such, this issue deserves our watchful eye.
