Surprising precisely no one, the "administration" today moved to appeal the recent federal court ruling ordering Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten to appear before the House Judiciary Committee in response to their subpoenas.
AP:
Planning appeals, two senior White House advisers asked a judge Thursday to delay enforcement of his ruling that they have to testify before Congress.
White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers petitioned U.S. District Judge John Bates to place a hold on his ruling allowing White House aides to be subpoenaed by Congress.
Bates on July 31 rejected White House arguments that presidential confidants are protected from congressional subpoenas by executive privilege, giving free rein to Democrats who have been trying to get President Bush's aides to testify on the dismissal of nine federal prosecutors.
Obviously there's a good chance that this move runs out the clock on the issue, if the stay is granted. There's some indication from Bates' July 31st opinion that he's sensitive to the fact that the short time window a Congress has to enforce its subpoena power (House subpoenas expire with the adjournment of Congress at the end of its two-year term) has to be factored into the equation, but there's clearly no guarantee that Bates would deny the White House motion.
Without a stay in place, the Judiciary Committee would be looking to resume hearings with Miers and Bolten as witnesses in September, when the Congress returns from its August recess. Still unclear is exactly what happens if Miers and Bolten continue to refuse to appear even in the absence of a stay, or what recourse (if any) the House would have should they agree to appear, but decline to answer any questions on the grounds they originally claimed exempted them from having to show up -- that is, executive privilege.
Also still floating around out there somewhere: inherent contempt. Judge Bates did his best to discourage its use, preferring the use of the courts to settle these issues, if necessary. But a stay, should it be granted, would create incredible pressure on the Congress to resort to the very limited additional options open to it to enforce their rights before the issues were mooted by the end of its term.
Meanwhile, it's back to the waiting game for the House, now eyeing the close of the 110th Congress, the most important thing about winning the majority in which was supposed to be... "subpoena power."