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Attorneys on both sides of a historic legal battle between House Democrats and the White House argued Monday that a judge’s decision against them would irrevocably tip the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government. District Judge John Bates heard nearly three hours of oral arguments Monday in a lawsuit over the limits of executive privilege. The House Judiciary Committee filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce subpoenas for testimony and documents to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. Democrats in Congress subpoenaed Bolten and Miers as part of their investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. They wanted to know what role, if any, the White House played in the prosecutors’ terminations and whether the firings were politically motivated. But President Bush asserted an executive privilege over his top aides’ sworn testimony. The case is unprecedented, and any action by the judge — even deciding that he has the authority to weigh in and issue a ruling — will affect future negotiations and investigations between the two branches of government. House counsel Irvin Nathan said Democrats were forced to file suit because the White House was stonewalling and obfuscating. “Not only doesn’t [the Judiciary Committee] have the facts from the White House, it has false and misleading facts from members of the Department of Justice,” Nathan said during hearing. But Carl Nichols, the principal deputy associate attorney general, who argued the case for the White House, said Democrats in Congress failed to negotiate in a reasonable way. He also said they had alternatives to filing suit. They could have arrested Bolten and Miers and jailed them in a cell in the Capitol complex built for holding people in contempt of Congress. He also said Congress could have decided to withhold Justice Department appropriations or refused to pass judicial nominations. “They could have said, ‘We’re not going to exercise these powers,’ ” Nichols asserted. |
