Pelosi considers floor vote on Bolten, Miers contempt citations

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her Democratic colleagues on Tuesday night that the House has to consider criminal contempt citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and Harriett Miers, former White House counsel.

But Pelosi did not set a day for a floor vote on the contempt citations, and Democratic leaders are set to meet on Wednesday to review the issue. Pelosi and the Democratic leadership had postponed consideration of the matter until the Congress completed work on the economic stimulus package. With that legislation now out of the way, Pelosi has raised the possibility again that the House might seek a constitutional showdown with President Bush over the limits of executive privilege.

Bolten and Miers, at the direction of the White House, refused last year to comply with subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee issued last year as part of the congressional probe into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. The White House claimed executive privilege. The Judiciary panel approved criminal contempt citations against the two Bush aides last year, but the House leadership has repeatedly delayed any floor vote.

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) has been pressing Pelosi to hold the contempt vote, and Pelosi has stated publicly that she herself favors doing so, but other Democratic leaders, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) are concerned that a loss in court on the issue could have a negative impact on the ability of future Congresses to investigate the executive branch.

The Justice Department last year claimed that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey A. Taylor, cannot go to court to enforce a contempt citation related to an executive privilege claim, a position endorsed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey.