WASHINGTON — For months, congressional investigators have been pursuing allegations that the Bush administration tried to influence cases handled by U.S. attorneys across the country in ways that would benefit the Republican Party.
Now that investigation is near an impasse because the administration appears to be telling a U.S. attorney what to do.
The prosecutor, Jeffrey A. Taylor, is the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Under federal law, Taylor's office is required to pursue cases in which people are found to be in contempt of Congress.
With lawmakers on Capitol Hill moving toward holding in contempt past and present administration officials, including former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers, for failing to cooperate in the probe into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year, Taylor could soon become a central figure in the drama.
The White House and Justice Department are sending strong signals that they will bar anyone from prosecuting such a case. Despite a federal statute referring to the U.S. attorney's duty to take contempt cases to the grand jury, they believe it would be impermissible under the law, and violate the doctrine of separation of powers under the Constitution.
The position is roiling congressional investigators planning their next step in the probe, which has hit a wall with the White House's refusal to turn over documents and make officials available for public questioning under oath.
It is also leaving Taylor, 42, facing a test of his own independence from his bosses at the Justice Department.
Taylor is a loyal Republican who has served as a top lawyer for both Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales and former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.
He was originally appointed interim U.S. attorney by Gonzales under a law that was repealed by Congress this spring because it did not allow the Senate to approve his appointment.
He was later nominated by Bush, although the Senate has yet to officially confirm him.
Some legal experts think Taylor might have to disqualify himself from participating in a contempt-of-Congress investigation because of his close ties to the administration.
He once occupied a fifth-floor office at the Justice Department just a few doors from that of D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff -- a principal figure in the prosecutor purge who later resigned.
Taylor, a native of Northern California, also is a career prosecutor who once worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego.
