Bush executive privilege claims as broadest since Watergate
 
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:45:12 -0500 (CDT)



http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/house-lawyers-slam-white-house.php

JURIST  - Thursday, April 10, 2008

House  lawyers slam White House executive privilege claims as broadest 
'since Watergate'

[JURIST] The White House's interpretation of executive privilege to shield 
former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and current White House Chief of 
Staff Joshua Bolten from Congressional subpoenas represents the broadest 
construction of the doctrine since Watergate, lawyers for the US House 
Judiciary Committee [official website] told the US District Court for the 
District of Columbia in court papers 
[http://judiciary.house.gov//Media/PDFS/SOJ080409.pdf] Thursday.

Lawyers for the Executive branch argued that Miers and Bolten were immune 
from prosecution as their refusal to cooperate with subpoenas was directed 
by the White House, and therefore protected by executive privilege.

In  February,  members  of  the  House voted 223-32 
[http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll060.xml]
to issue contempt citations for Miers for failing to testify and 
citations for both Miers and Bolten for refusing to produce documents 
related to the 2006-2007 firings of nine US attorneys . The same month, 
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to Attorney 
General Michael Mukasey urging him to begin a grand jury investigation 
into the conduct of the two White House aides and saying that the House 
would initiate a civil lawsuit if she did not receive a response within 
one week. Mukasey refused to present the contempt citations to a grand 
jury in a response the following day, and the committee filed a civil 
lawsuit seeking enforcement of the subpoenas.
  [http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/ContemptComplaint080310.pdf]

AP has more and offers additional 
coverage[http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080410/D8VV8EL01.html].