Court holds off on contempt charges until next year

A federal appeals court on Monday punted a decision about whether two of President Bush’s top aides must testify before a congressional committee until next year — and the next administration.

The delay is a setback for House Democrats who held White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for failing to respond to subpoenas for information about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Democrats were trying to find out if politics played an improper role in their removal.

{mosads}Democrats then filed suit to enforce the contempt charges, but time will run out on this year’s congressional session before the constitutional showdown between the executive and legislative branches will be resolved.

The ruling by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said even if expedited, the case could not be fully resolved before this Congress ends on Jan. 3.

“At that time, the 110th House of Representatives will cease to exist as a legal entity, and the subpoenas it has issued will expire,” wrote the panel of judges, two of whom were appointed by Republicans.

“In view of the above considerations, we see no reason to set the appeal,” the panel concluded. “If the case becomes moot, we would be wasting the time of the court and the parties.”

Monday’s decision prevents a July order by U.S. District Judge John Bates that would have forced Miers to testify before the House Judiciary panel and Bolten to at least turn over documents to the committee.

An internal investigation by the Department of Justice’s inspector general recently found “substantial” evidence that politics played an important role in the prosecutors’ firings. Miers, Bolten and other top White House aides did not cooperate with the probe.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed Nora Dannehy, a federal prosecutor from Connecticut, as a special prosecutor charged with investigating the probe’s findings.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and subcommittee Chairmen Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) wrote Mukasey on Monday, seeking information about what powers Dannehy will have to investigate and how independent she can be.

The Democrats also urged Mukasey to provide a public accounting of the investigation.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, urged House Democrats to drop their suit.

“Rather than continue to waste the American people’s time and money, I hope that next year House Democrats put partisan politics aside and focus on a real agenda that serves the American people,” Smith said in a statement.