White House catches a break in U.S. Attorney firings.
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court declined yesterday to order current and former White House aides to testify before a House committee about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, leaving the next Congress to decide how aggressively to pursue the constitutional showdown.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the dispute over the role of politics in the 2006 dismissals would not be “fully and finally resolved” by the time the 110th Congress gives way.
So the court granted a delay in the case, pending the results of an appeal by former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers and presidential chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten.
The aides are contesting a July ruling by a lower court that ordered them to produce documents and testimony. They had asserted that lawmakers are intruding on President Bush’s executive privilege.
