Vote postponed on contempt resolutions

A Senate Judiciary Committee vote on contempt resolutions against Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten were postponed following an objection by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Under Judiciary Committe rules, the vote will be postponed for one week.

Rove and Bolten were subpoenaed as part of the committee's investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys last year. Citing executive privilege, President Bush has refused to allow top White House officials, including both current and former, from testifying before the House and Senate Judiciary committees, which have spent months looking into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. The House Judiciary Committee has already approved criminal contempt resolutions against Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriett Miers for refusing to comply with its subpoenas, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not yet set a floor vote on the measures.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Bush "has not accepted responsibility for the firings or given any indication that he was involved in the White House efforts to politicize federal law enforcement. Instead, the White House line is that 'mistakes were made' but that we, the Congress, are to blame for the [former Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales resignations. Apparently, no one, least of all the president, is responsible, yet somehow executive privilege supposedly applies to cloak all White House activities and communication in regards to these firings affecting the independence and integrity of federal law enforcement from oversight."

Leahy added: "Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and certainly should not prevail."

Draft contempt resolutions against Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff, released by the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning said "evidence accumulated from the testimony of nearly 20 current or former Justice Department officials and documents released by the department shows that White House political officials played a significant role in originating, developing, coordinating and implementing these unprecedented firings and the Justice Department's response to congressional inquiries about them."

Specter, who asked Leahy for a chance to revise the draft resoltions, warned that the whole matter could end in federal court, which is not something he wants to occur.

"It continues to be my hope that this matter could be resolved without litigation," Specter said, although he added that he would back Leahy's effort to enforce the committee's subpoenas.