Mr Bolten and Ms Miers ignored a subpoena to testify

The suit calls for former White House counsel Harriet Miers to testify to the panel and for chief-of-staff Joshua Bolten to provide subpoenaed documents.

The House Judiciary Committee said it would not allow the Bush administration "to steamroll Congress" by refusing.

A White House spokeswoman dismissed the lawsuit as "partisan theatre".

The case, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest development in a row over the firing in 2006 of nine US federal prosecutors.

Critics charged that the sackings were politically motivated, directed by the White House because the attorneys in question were not supportive enough of the Republican agenda.

The White House has repeatedly denied that allegation.

'No crime'

The lawsuit filed by the House Judiciary Committee contests the White House's view that Ms Miers is immune from being held to testify by Congress.

Alberto Gonzales resigned after months of calls for him to leave office

It also calls on Ms Miers and Mr Bolten to identify all the documents being withheld from Congress despite the subpoena issued by it early last year.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino responded: "The confidentiality that the president receives from his senior advisers and the constitutional principle of separation of powers must be protected from overreaching and we are confident that the courts will agree with us."

Late last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to refer contempt citations passed by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives against Ms Miers and Mr Bolten to a grand jury.

President George W Bush had instructed the pair not to comply, citing executive privilege, Mr Mukasey said, and the Justice Department had determined that that order was legal.

Federal prosecutors - or US attorneys - work under the direction of the attorney general but can be dismissed at any time at the discretion of the president.

The row over the US attorneys' dismissal resulted in the departure of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last August, following months of calls for him to resign.