WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to refer to the Justice Department criminal contempt charges against two Bush administration advisors who refused to cooperate with a congressional inquiry last year into the firing of U.S. attorneys.
The resolution was the first time in more than two decades that a chamber of Congress had backed a contempt of Congress citation. It also marked an escalation in a dispute between House Democrats and the White House over the breadth of executive privilege, signaling a possible court fight.
Held in contempt were White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers, who last summer failed to answer subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary Committee.
The panel was investigating the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys, which Democrats think was politically motivated. The controversy later contributed to the resignation of Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.
The contempt resolution was approved 223 to 32. But Republicans boycotted the vote and heaped scorn on the majority for not using the time to take up Senate-passed revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires this weekend.
"We will not stand idly by and watch the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives be abused for pure political grandstanding at the expense of our national security," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), leading Republicans in a walkout before the vote.
Democrats accused Republicans of pulling a political stunt. They said the contempt question was hardly a partisan issue because it concerned the system of checks and balances under the Constitution. Choosing not to enforce the subpoenas would be giving "tacit consent to the dangerous idea of an imperial presidency, above the law," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).
The action was at least partly symbolic. Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey has indicated that the Justice Department will not pursue contempt charges. He has cited a legal opinion that under the doctrine of executive privilege -- which protects executive branch officials from having to disclose certain internal deliberations to other branches of government -- Miers and Bolten did not have to testify.
Under the law, contempt of Congress charges are investigated by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. But the Justice Department has taken the position in previous cases that it will not allow a U.S. attorney to conduct such an investigation if the department has determined that executive privilege was well-founded.
