Washington Post: Leahy hints at contempt charge against Bush
According to the Washington Post, Sen. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says that a contempt charge is not out of the question if the White House refuses to turn over subpoenaed documents.
Excerpts:
Leahy's comments raise the stakes in a growing conflict between the Democrat-controlled Congress and the Bush White House, suggesting the constitutional clash may end up in a court case that could last beyond Bush's tenure as president.
Congressional investigators want testimony, internal e-mails and other documents to clarify what role Bush's senior staff played in the Justice Department's removal of nine prosecutors last year. The firings have triggered bipartisan calls for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to resign.
The White House has refused, asserting executive privilege, a claim invoked since the time of George Washington to mean that the separation of powers embodied in the Constitution allows each branch to operate freely from the control or supervision of the others.
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